Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,300 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 552 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,406,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BCK Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 8.9% in the first quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 174.0% in the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,675,000 after purchasing an additional 58,283 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $60,828,000 after acquiring an additional 113,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth about $567,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VZ. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.86.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE VZ traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $40.76. 5,888,458 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,270,971. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.76, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50 day moving average of $40.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.21.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.53%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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).