AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Boosts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 349,743 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 39,640 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $13,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Ossiam boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 658.6% during the second quarter. Ossiam now owns 1,361,200 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $50,623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181,766 shares during the period. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 173.7% during the third quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $21,137,000 after purchasing an additional 413,869 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,131,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 3,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $306,000. 61.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.86.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $40.37. The company had a trading volume of 17,816,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,625,604. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $169.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.40.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

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