Bard Financial Services Inc. Raises Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Bard Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 268,855 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up approximately 1.3% of Bard Financial Services Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $10,752,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 81,945 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,379,000 after acquiring an additional 7,656 shares during the last quarter. Umpqua Bank raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.8% during the second quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 53,941 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,979 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 866.9% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 155,311 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,405,000 after purchasing an additional 139,249 shares during the period. Chris Bulman Inc bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at about $98,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7,577.3% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 629,619 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,953,000 after purchasing an additional 621,418 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ traded down $0.50 during trading on Monday, reaching $39.76. 15,375,986 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,423,523. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.56 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $167.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).