Traveka Wealth LLC Has $249,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Traveka Wealth LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,235 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 846 shares during the quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 48,058 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,922,000 after buying an additional 3,676 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 9,113 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 1,520 shares during the period. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 30,787 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 1,812 shares during the last quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management now owns 165,633 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,624,000 after purchasing an additional 7,427 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 244,342 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,771,000 after purchasing an additional 3,733 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $38.09 on Tuesday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $41.23 and its 200-day moving average is $41.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Raymond James raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

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).