Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,801 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cove Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,396 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 2,711 shares during the period. Baugh & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Baugh & Associates LLC now owns 128,066 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,939,000 after purchasing an additional 5,651 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 33.5% in the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 15,987 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,014 shares during the period. True Link Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 47,643 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,905,000 after buying an additional 4,051 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.4 %

VZ stock opened at $38.86 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.70. 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 PE ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. Bank of America increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” 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).