Procyon Advisors LLC Has $1.35 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Procyon Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,785 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 7,403 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 244.1% during the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 1,115 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 791 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.86 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 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 paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.97%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group upped 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. Bank of America increased their price target 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

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).