Grantvest Financial Group LLC Invests $258,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Grantvest Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 6,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lynx Investment Advisory boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory now owns 25,018 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 899 shares in the last quarter. Towercrest Capital Management lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 35.9% in the fourth quarter. Towercrest Capital Management now owns 6,270 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 1,655 shares during the period. United Services Automobile Association boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 97,618 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,904,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $98,000. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $99,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.53.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $44.06 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.01. The company has a market capitalization of $185.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.64, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.15%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

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).