J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 55.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 259,963 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 92,571 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after purchasing an additional 78,995,341 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $1,829,675,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after purchasing an additional 11,987,691 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 81.3% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,604,493 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $540,193,000 after purchasing an additional 4,756,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $40.50. The stock had a trading volume of 24,693,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,784,156. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.24. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The business’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.57%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other 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 transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. 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 research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.50.

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).