Natixis Advisors L.P. Boosts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 34.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,073,490 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 273,548 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $40,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after buying an additional 930,367 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,446,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,015,139 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after buying an additional 4,134,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,261,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $300,175,000 after buying an additional 1,385,957 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $38.89. The company had a trading volume of 13,195,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,003,748. The company has a market cap of $163.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.74.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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).