Marshall Financial Group LLC Purchases 868 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Marshall Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 72,022 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 868 shares during the quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas now owns 23,486 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $939,000 after buying an additional 1,564 shares during the period. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 124,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,987,000 after acquiring an additional 6,945 shares in the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 27,401 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after acquiring an additional 5,818 shares during the period. Stewardship Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Stewardship Advisors LLC now owns 6,472 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advocate Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 252,157 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,084,000 after purchasing an additional 9,554 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wolfe Research upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.29.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $39.54 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap 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 (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 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 dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).