Choreo LLC Purchases 37,362 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Choreo LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 50.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 111,958 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,362 shares during the period. Choreo LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,221,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 27,747 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 20,152 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $760,000 after acquiring an additional 5,082 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 24,158 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $911,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC now owns 6,652 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,244 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $537,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.10 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The stock has a market cap of $168.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.665 per share. 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 6.63%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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).