Capital Analysts LLC Increases Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Capital Analysts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 50.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 71,338 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,969 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BCK Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% during the first quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $279,000 after buying an additional 487 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 174.0% during the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,675,000 after buying an additional 58,283 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Verizon Communications by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $60,828,000 after acquiring an additional 113,032 shares during the period. Finally, First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $567,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research raised Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $40.10 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company has a market capitalization of $168.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.53, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

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).