Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Grows Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 89,409 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,842 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,575,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. TFB Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 18,328 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 1,024,731 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $40,979,000 after purchasing an additional 145,245 shares during the period. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $262,000. Portfolio Design Labs LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 43,851 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,754,000 after buying an additional 6,196 shares during the period. Finally, Fortress Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $387,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.57 billion, a PE ratio of 9.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $40.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.56.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

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).