Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC Makes New $836,000 Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 20,912 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $836,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 994,939 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $39,775,000 after buying an additional 77,162 shares during the last quarter. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $17,751,000. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 1,710,912 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $68,419,000 after purchasing an additional 28,832 shares during the period. Logan Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. now owns 126,972 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,078,000 after purchasing an additional 6,924 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 24,236 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,833 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of Verizon Communications 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. This represents a 12.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,500 shares of company stock worth $1,376,300. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $42.99 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $43.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.30%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 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).