Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Holdings Raised by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 489,501 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,755 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $19,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 131,046 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,241,000 after purchasing an additional 6,952 shares during the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 955,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,216,000 after buying an additional 4,107 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,301,075 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $691,870,000 after buying an additional 1,113,883 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 141,518 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,659,000 after acquiring an additional 26,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Select Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $1,937,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. DZ Bank raised shares of 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. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.7 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.60 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The stock has a market cap of $183.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.22%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,376,300 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Company 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).