Sara Bay Financial Has $440,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sara Bay Financial decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 21.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,119 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,961 shares during the quarter. Sara Bay Financial’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,015,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 307,514 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,682,000 after acquiring an additional 29,082 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 36,830 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,519,000 after acquiring an additional 3,731 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 152,304 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 24,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC now owns 90,644 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,738,000 after acquiring an additional 5,235 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.52 on Friday, reaching $38.86. 23,987,092 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,659,684. The company has a market cap of $163.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.06 and a 200-day moving average of $41.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current 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 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 6.97%. Verizon Communications’s 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).