Michels Family Financial LLC Buys Shares of 17,245 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Michels Family Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 17,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $690,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $357,398,000 after buying an additional 8,695,736 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 52.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $792,937,000 after purchasing an additional 6,846,514 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on VZ. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. This trade represents a 12.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 31,500 shares of company stock worth $1,376,300. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.38 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $182.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $43.60 and its 200 day moving average is $42.11. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.25%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

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).