Crew Capital Management Ltd. Acquires Shares of 5,436 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Crew Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 5,436 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,446,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,015,139 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $920,455,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134,150 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.6% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,261,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $300,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385,957 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.1 %

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $40.10. The stock had a trading volume of 19,838,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,158,041. The company has a market cap of $168.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.14, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.61. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.63%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

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).