Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Acquires 208,054 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,818,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 208,054 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises 0.5% of Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $172,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 16,704 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $121,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6,475.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 444,969 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $17,794,000 after acquiring an additional 438,202 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $576,000. Finally, Linscomb Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 178,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,155,000 after acquiring an additional 3,172 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank increased their target price 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. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ opened at $42.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $178.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $43.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released 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. The company 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 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.40%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,071.04. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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).