Versant Capital Management Inc Raises Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,037 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 692 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $321,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in 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 last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth about $44,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 762.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. 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 report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.51.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.26 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.56 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $169.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.83. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.73%. 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).