Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP Buys 1,851 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 25.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,242 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,851 shares during the quarter. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.10 during trading on Monday, hitting $40.39. The stock had a trading volume of 5,739,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,600,678. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $169.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.67, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.59%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 96.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on VZ. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

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).