Roble Belko & Company Inc Increases Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Roble Belko & Company Inc boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6,700.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,700 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,675 shares during the quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $68,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,081,241 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,581,848,000 after buying an additional 1,106,887 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,305,727,000 after buying an additional 565,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $815,636,000 after buying an additional 502,949 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $38.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.45, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.76.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank raised their target price 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. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. 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. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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).