Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Acquires 70,217 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 33.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 278,429 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 70,217 shares during the period. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $11,134,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $222,500,000 after purchasing an additional 129,171 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,966,661 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $357,590,000 after acquiring an additional 731,828 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 44.0% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 65,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,619,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. Iowa State Bank increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 70,276 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,810,000 after acquiring an additional 15,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 77,796 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,111,000 after purchasing an additional 17,393 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $834,071.04. This trade represents a 28.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 22,500 shares of company stock valued at $979,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.74 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $184.42 billion, a PE ratio of 10.57, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.95.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.20%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

Verizon Communications 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).