Signature Resources Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Signature Resources Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,020 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $114,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. WealthTrust Axiom LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,479,000 after buying an additional 2,422 shares during the period. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 173.7% during the third quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $21,137,000 after purchasing an additional 413,869 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616 shares during the period. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 3,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $38.89. The company had a trading volume of 13,195,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,003,748. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.79. The company has a market capitalization of $163.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.84%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).