Romano Brothers AND Company Has $4.99 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Romano Brothers AND Company decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,437 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,994,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC now owns 6,921 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Kelly Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Kelly Financial Services LLC now owns 6,579 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 12,026 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 2,638 shares during the last quarter. Clarius Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 17,041 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $681,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $636,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Tigress Financial increased 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. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.4 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.69. The company has a market cap of $163.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).