Abbrea Capital LLC Purchases 538 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Abbrea Capital LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 28,983 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 538 shares during the period. Abbrea Capital LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 18,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 3,079 shares during the period. Strategic Blueprint LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 36,960 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,198,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 107,530 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,485,000 after buying an additional 3,484 shares during the period. Alta Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.7% during the third quarter. Alta Capital Management LLC now owns 96,496 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,127,000 after acquiring an additional 5,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 54,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,699,000 after purchasing an additional 8,465 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.7 %

VZ stock traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $39.22. 16,600,289 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,182,977. The company has a market cap of $164.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.71. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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. 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 note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

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).