EP Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 26,366 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 22.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 141,518 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,366 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $222,500,000 after buying an additional 129,171 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in Verizon Communications by 28.8% during the fourth 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 period. Rempart Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 203,190 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,126,000 after purchasing an additional 45,790 shares during the last quarter. InvesTrust purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,956,000. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 21,642 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,500 shares of company stock worth $979,400. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $185.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $43.73 and its 200 day moving average is $41.97.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.17%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).