Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC Buys 528 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,094 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 528 shares during the quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Fermata Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.5% in the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,450 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 5,945 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Western Financial Corp CA raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 17,491 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 2.8 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $40.85 and a 200 day moving average of $41.62. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.52, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.44.

Verizon Communications 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).