Jennison Associates LLC Purchases 3,319 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 734,537 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 3,319 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $29,374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 4.5% in the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 5,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,450 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 3.4% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Wynn Capital LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.4% during the third quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 5,945 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Western Financial Corp CA raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the third quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 17,491 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $786,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $39.83 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $167.65 billion, a PE ratio of 9.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.56.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.80%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).