Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stake Raised by Davidson Trust Co.

Davidson Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 13,629 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the quarter. Davidson Trust Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BCK Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 174.0% during the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,675,000 after buying an additional 58,283 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $60,828,000 after buying an additional 113,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $567,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group lifted 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. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Seven equities 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $40.34. 7,536,807 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,569,502. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

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).