Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC Has $318,000 Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,916 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,392 shares during the quarter. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 762.6% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 938 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $38.09 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. 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 fifty day moving average of $41.23 and a 200-day moving average of $41.78.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).