Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Shufro Rose & Co. LLC

Shufro Rose & Co. LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,803 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Shufro Rose & Co. LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,446,194,000 after acquiring an additional 2,015,139 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $920,455,000 after acquiring an additional 4,134,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,261,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $300,175,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385,957 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE VZ opened at $39.75 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market capitalization of $167.32 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.61.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

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).