Versor Investments LP Purchases New Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 14,400 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $576,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Austin Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. First Personal Financial Services grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the third quarter. First Personal Financial Services now owns 91,092 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,091,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the third quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,505 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $562,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the period. Finally, Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 10,968 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of VZ opened at $43.12 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $181.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

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).