Hills Bank & Trust Co Boosts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Hills Bank & Trust Co lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,332 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 2,592 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6,475.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 444,969 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $17,794,000 after purchasing an additional 438,202 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $576,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 21,377 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $855,000 after purchasing an additional 712 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Bridge Advisors raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 23,344 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $934,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank increased 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. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $42.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.41 billion, a PE ratio of 10.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.40%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

About Verizon Communications

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).