N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC Acquires 1,747 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,037 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,747 shares during the quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $378,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 930,367 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.8% in 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 buying an additional 4,527,387 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,015,139 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after acquiring an additional 4,134,150 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,261,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $300,175,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385,957 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. 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 research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.45 on Monday, reaching $39.34. 13,346,228 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,931,412. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $40.32 and its 200-day moving average is $38.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The firm has a market cap of $165.59 billion, a PE ratio of 14.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.76%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 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).