Donoghue Forlines LLC Has $1.50 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Donoghue Forlines LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 26.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,386 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,739 shares during the period. Donoghue Forlines LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its position 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 worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 244.1% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 1,115 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target 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, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.5 %

VZ stock opened at $39.14 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $164.78 billion, a PE ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.92%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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).