Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Grows Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,854 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,110 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $673,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 173.7% during the 3rd quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $21,137,000 after buying an additional 413,869 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,131,000 after buying an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after buying an additional 3,020 shares in the last quarter. GFS Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Finally, Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $306,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $1.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.78. The stock had a trading volume of 16,344,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,152,758. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.53 and a 200 day moving average of $38.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The firm has a market cap of $167.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VZ. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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).