Alhambra Investment Management LLC Sells 791 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Alhambra Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,664 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 791 shares during the period. Alhambra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Verity & Verity LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 323,171 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,924,000 after buying an additional 36,710 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 290,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,634,000 after acquiring an additional 15,000 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 105,664 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087 shares during the last quarter. Spring Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Spring Capital Management LLC now owns 83,241 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,329,000 after purchasing an additional 2,535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TrueWealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,590 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,463,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.4 %

VZ opened at $38.86 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $41.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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).