Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Sunflower Bank N.A.

Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 20.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,113 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,520 shares during the quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 30,787 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,812 shares during the period. Bar Harbor Wealth Management increased its position in Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management now owns 165,633 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,624,000 after buying an additional 7,427 shares during the period. Eastern Bank lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 244,342 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,771,000 after buying an additional 3,733 shares during the last quarter. Persium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $655,000. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,381 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $38.09. 19,700,711 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,753,027. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $160.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $41.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.80.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm 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 company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share 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 dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group boosted 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, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

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).