Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,627 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,527 shares during the period. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,946,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CGC Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. RVW Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.6 %

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.49. 7,696,103 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,152,357. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.21. The company has a market cap of $174.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.49 and a 200-day moving average of $37.26.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.41%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

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).