Apexium Financial LP Purchases 12,284 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Apexium Financial LP lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 99.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,675 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,284 shares during the period. Apexium Financial LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Savvy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $902,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 7,289 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 48.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 245,887 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,270,000 after purchasing an additional 79,810 shares during the last quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 60.3% during the 4th quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 190,874 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,196,000 after purchasing an additional 71,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,833 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.36.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $40.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,004,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,350,875. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.26. The stock has a market cap of $169.25 billion, a PE ratio of 15.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.42.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.62%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).