Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 76.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,717 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,372 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 594,918 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $22,428,000 after purchasing an additional 39,530 shares during the last quarter. Tiller Private Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Tiller Private Wealth Inc. now owns 8,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223 shares during the period. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $202,000. Cambridge Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 43,742 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,649,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV now owns 19,738 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $741,000 after purchasing an additional 807 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $40.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,658,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,515,059. The business’s 50-day moving average is $40.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $169.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.58%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of 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. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on 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 stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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).