Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. Sells 934 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,528 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 934 shares during the quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,181,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.4 %

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

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company 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 is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.97%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Citigroup boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. 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. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” 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).