Cohen Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cohen Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,749 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,460 shares during the quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during 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. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $216,266,000 after acquiring an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $217,087,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,258 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 77.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $274,052,000 after purchasing an additional 2,656,396 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on VZ. Citigroup boosted 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. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $38.32 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $161.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a fifty day moving average of $41.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).