Saxon Interests Inc. Invests $549,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Saxon Interests Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 14,564 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $549,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CGC Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. HBC Financial Services PLLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. RVW Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 58.4% in the 4th quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.0 %

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.42 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,771,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,609,096. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $40.57 and its 200 day moving average is $37.34. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.86.

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).