Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Has $799,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,184 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $799,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 174.0% in the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,675,000 after purchasing an additional 58,283 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 10.5% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $60,828,000 after purchasing an additional 113,032 shares during the period. Finally, First Western Trust Bank bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $567,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. UBS Group raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.86.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $42.04. The stock had a trading volume of 8,065,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,151,574. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.31. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.33%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.38%.

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).