Peak Financial Management Inc. Makes New $428,000 Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Peak Financial Management Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 11,350 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,829,675,000. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,678,273,000 after acquiring an additional 11,987,691 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 175,039,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,509,733,000 after acquiring an additional 8,171,700 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 339,007,286 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,607,681,000 after acquiring an additional 5,910,739 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE VZ opened at $41.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.40. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. 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 report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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).