Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 5,663 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 93,461 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,663 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Ziegler Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 67,895 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,200,000 after buying an additional 3,241 shares during the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $201,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 44,695 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,449,000 after buying an additional 3,242 shares during the last quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. now owns 37,785 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,225,000 after buying an additional 2,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 76,215 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,470,000 after buying an additional 22,126 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. KeyCorp raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wolfe Research raised Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded down $0.21 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.49. The company had a trading volume of 15,942,031 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,223,914. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $166.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm 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 company posted $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.74%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

About Verizon Communications

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).