Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stock Holdings Boosted by Roble Belko & Company Inc

Roble Belko & Company Inc boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6,700.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,700 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,675 shares during the quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $68,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. One Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 34.9% during the second quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 11,346 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 2,937 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,015,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 41,924 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,729,000 after buying an additional 643 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,212 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 2,997 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $348,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.3 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.17 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.68 billion, a PE ratio of 16.45, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.76.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.10%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).