GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires New Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 28,588 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,078,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Element Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $292,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 49,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,860,000 after purchasing an additional 3,487 shares during the last quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,886 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,452 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 17,854 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stockman Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 143,828 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,422,000 after purchasing an additional 908 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Citigroup raised their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.69. The stock had a trading volume of 25,970,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,270,385. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.38. 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 earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.03% 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).