Verus Financial Partners Inc. Invests $250,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Verus Financial Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,640 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,233.3% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Thursday, hitting $39.61. The stock had a trading volume of 2,899,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,554,551. The stock has a market cap of $166.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.01. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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).