Mendota Financial Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Mendota Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 17,344.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,570 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,561 shares during the period. Mendota Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $63,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 168.8% in the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 20,467 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $844,000 after acquiring an additional 12,852 shares during the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.4% in the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 2,811 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Bcwm LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.1% during the second quarter. Bcwm LLC now owns 116,733 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,814,000 after purchasing an additional 4,573 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 37.9% in the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 6,973,838 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $287,601,000 after buying an additional 1,916,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Black Diamond Financial LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $38.09 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.78.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

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).