Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Burney Co.

Burney Co. boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 30.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,472 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,463,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 938 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.5 %

VZ stock opened at $38.46 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.76. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend 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).