Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,381,495 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 40,734 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $52,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC now owns 73,884 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,785,000 after purchasing an additional 4,992 shares during the period. Allstate Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 14,562 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 3,004 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 23,655 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $892,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 90.7% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 27,272 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,028,000 after buying an additional 12,969 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WBI Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 57.2% in the fourth quarter. WBI Investments LLC now owns 138,774 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $5,232,000 after buying an additional 50,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.36.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.37 during trading on Thursday, hitting $39.43. 14,103,508 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,220,313. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $165.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. Verizon Communications's revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).