Americana Partners LLC Buys 281,005 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Americana Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 294.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 376,312 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 281,005 shares during the quarter. Americana Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $15,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 26.1% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 31,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 6,562 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $54,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,072 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $723,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $589,000. Finally, Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Heathbridge Capital Management Ltd. now owns 493,100 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $19,719,000 after acquiring an additional 3,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price objective 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. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.00 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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).