Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Buys 58,378 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) by 176.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 91,401 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 58,378 shares during the quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,601,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Certified Advisory Corp increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 23,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,187,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. Community Trust & Investment Co. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 63,854 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,516,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. FCA Corp TX boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. FCA Corp TX now owns 27,044 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 6,999 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the third quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 66,374 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,520,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Morgan Stanley upgraded Verizon Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $41.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Verizon Communications from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $41.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 19th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,199 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total value of $262,763.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,738 shares in the company, valued at $2,983,437. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $36.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $39.65 and its 200 day moving average is $38.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $154.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $34.55 and a one year high of $55.51.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $35.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.14 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 24.60% and a net margin of 15.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 6th. This represents a $2.61 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.09%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 51.58%.

Verizon Communications Profile

(Get Rating)

Verizon Communications, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of communications, information, and entertainment products and services. It operates through the Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business) segments. The Consumer segment provides consumer-focused wireless and wire line communications services and products.