HHG & Company lowered its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The hedge fund owned 144,641 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,071 shares during the period. Verizon Communications comprises about 1.8% of HHG & Company’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. HHG & Company’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,685,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Renaissance Investment Group acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Banced Corp acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $264,000. Benin Management increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Benin Management now owns 5,957 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors now owns 6,523 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sadoff Investment Management increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 36.4% in the fourth quarter. Sadoff Investment Management now owns 6,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 1,766 shares in the last quarter.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) opened at 47.04 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.72 and a 200 day moving average of $45.69. The company has a market cap of $191.59 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.76. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.06 and a 52 week high of $50.86.

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

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 8th will be given a $0.565 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 6th. This represents a $2.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.80%.

Several analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. RBC Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Vetr raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $48.36 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Nomura started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Friday, October 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Friday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $50.80.

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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