Oakworth Capital Inc. Raises Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Oakworth Capital Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 35.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,413 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 2,197 shares during the quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $317,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the period. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.77 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted 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 net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Verizon Communications

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).