Capital Planning Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 45.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,409 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 7,341 shares during the period. Capital Planning Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Palo Capital raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.5% in the third quarter. Palo Capital now owns 9,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 1,290 shares during the period. McQueen, Ball & Associates acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,528,000. LVM Capital Management raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management now owns 168,334 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,780,000 after buying an additional 24,555 shares during the period. Check Capital Management raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Check Capital Management now owns 1,276,670 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $59,008,000 after buying an additional 78,830 shares during the period. Finally, Pegasus Partners raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Pegasus Partners now owns 99,954 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,620,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the period.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) opened at 48.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $196.52 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $45.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.06 and a 12-month high of $50.86.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.01. The company earned $34.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.06 billion. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post $3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 8th will be paid a $0.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 6th. This represents a $2.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.68%.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Vetr downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $49.16 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday. FBR & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Friday, January 22nd. RBC Capital boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, January 4th. Finally, Cowen and Company reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.97.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) is a holding company that, acting through its subsidiaries, provides communications, information and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses and governmental agencies. Its segments include Wireless and Wireline. The Wireless segment includes the Cellco Partnership doing business as Verizon Wireless. Wireless’ communications products and services include wireless voice and data services and equipment sales, which are provided to consumer, business and government customers across the United States. Wireline’s voice, data and video communications products and services include broadband video and data, corporate networking solutions, data center and cloud services, security and managed network services and local and long distance voice services. Verizon provides these products and services to consumers in the United States, as well as to carriers, businesses and government customers both in the United States and around the world.

12 Month Chart for NYSE:VZ

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