Hennessy Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 227,950 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 8,850 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 244.1% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 1,115 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. 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 target for the company. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.32 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.32 billion, a PE ratio of 16.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 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. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. 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).