Investment Management Corp VA ADV Buys New Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,719 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $149,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,549,343,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,337 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 96,823,092 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,862,441,000 after purchasing an additional 998,847 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $2,300,846,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,801,282,000 after purchasing an additional 4,951,733 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. This represents a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,500 shares of company stock worth $1,376,300. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $43.10 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36. The stock has a market cap of $181.72 billion, a PE ratio of 10.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $43.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.10.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).