Fifth Third Bancorp Decreases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Fifth Third Bancorp reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 462,220 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 23,877 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $18,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,463,000 after buying an additional 43,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $92,445,000 after buying an additional 57,583 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.29.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.9 %

VZ opened at $39.54 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $166.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.61. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month 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 return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).