Northern Financial Advisors Inc Acquires Shares of 9,918 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Northern Financial Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 9,918 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $374,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.5% in the third quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,352 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,152,461 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $36,856,000 after purchasing an additional 153,485 shares during the last quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC now owns 79,265 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,569,000 after buying an additional 12,368 shares in the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,287 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Trust Co. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 4.0% during the third quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 43,139 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,398,000 after buying an additional 1,641 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. KeyCorp increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.6 %

VZ stock traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.56. 4,782,194 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,677,600. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month 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 stock has a market capitalization of $166.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.01.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.72%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

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).