Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Boosts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 81,823 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,827 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 208,350 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,332,000 after purchasing an additional 5,829 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 161,881 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,474,000 after buying an additional 4,224 shares during the last quarter. apricus wealth LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. apricus wealth LLC now owns 45,237 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,809,000 after buying an additional 2,350 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 720,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $28,814,000 after buying an additional 45,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional raised its position in Verizon Communications by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 39,762 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,590,000 after buying an additional 8,481 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $39.54 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.61. 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 has a market capitalization of $166.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.85%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.29.

Verizon Communications Company 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).