Everence Capital Management Inc. Has $5.38 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 24.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 142,640 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,950 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,115,932,000 after buying an additional 78,995,341 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,829,675,000. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,678,273,000 after buying an additional 11,987,691 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.3% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,604,493 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $540,193,000 after buying an additional 4,756,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after buying an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.8 %

VZ traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.77. The stock had a trading volume of 13,972,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,656,873. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued 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 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

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).