Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Takes Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 6,007 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Significant Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $238,000. Diversified LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Diversified LLC now owns 10,299 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Telemus Capital LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Telemus Capital LLC now owns 30,298 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after buying an additional 1,391 shares during the period. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $749,000. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 511,157 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $19,271,000 after acquiring an additional 108,836 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1 %

VZ stock opened at $38.64 on Tuesday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.38. The company has a market cap of $162.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The business’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.88%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 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).