Certuity LLC Purchases 209,716 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Certuity LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1,804.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 221,339 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 209,716 shares during the period. Certuity LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,396,167,000 after acquiring an additional 930,367 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after buying an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,446,194,000 after buying an additional 2,015,139 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after buying an additional 4,134,150 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,261,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $300,175,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385,957 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.50 on Tuesday, hitting $39.59. The stock had a trading volume of 7,618,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,001,922. The company has a market cap of $166.64 billion, a PE ratio of 14.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.45 and its 200 day moving average is $38.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.72%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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).