Genus Capital Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 92,720 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Genus Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 92,720 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $4,206,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $50,393,000 after purchasing an additional 76,083 shares in the last quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.8% in the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,079,000 after purchasing an additional 107,200 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 2,075,431 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $82,996,000 after purchasing an additional 20,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the first quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,137,904 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $51,126,000 after purchasing an additional 63,474 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.4%

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.00 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $43.18 and a 200 day moving average of $42.35. 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 0.58, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.37.

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 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 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.45%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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).