Eley Financial Management Inc Buys 467 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Eley Financial Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,610 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 467 shares during the period. Eley Financial Management Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $777,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ziegler Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 5.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,241 shares in the last quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $201,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.8% during 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. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.5% during 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 raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 40.9% during 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. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded 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 note on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.81. 5,201,853 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,999,006. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $40.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.68%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

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).