Chesapeake Wealth Management Reduces Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Chesapeake Wealth Management trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,880 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,041 shares during the period. Chesapeake Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 244.1% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 1,115 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $38.86 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $41.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.70.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for 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 was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

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