Rise Advisors LLC Sells 323 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Rise Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 323 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 762.6% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 938 shares during the period. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $50,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.40 on Tuesday, hitting $39.21. 15,796,513 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,032,176. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.86. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.56 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $165.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).