Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,042 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,382 shares during the quarter. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 632,214 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,282,000 after purchasing an additional 5,958 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 386,661 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,463,000 after buying an additional 13,242 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 78,026 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,120,000 after buying an additional 1,251 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 25,583 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,023,000 after acquiring an additional 6,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crescent Sterling Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. now owns 30,671 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE VZ opened at $38.09 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.78. The stock has a market cap of $160.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.11%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price 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. UBS Group raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

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).