LS Investment Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 30.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,262 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,805 shares during the quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $613,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CGC Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. HBC Financial Services PLLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 58.4% in the fourth quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. Citigroup increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.86.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.4 %

VZ opened at $40.37 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.17. The firm has a market cap of $169.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.59%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

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).