Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Adero Partners LLC

Adero Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 26.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,527 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,380 shares during the quarter. Adero Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in Verizon Communications by 58.0% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $78,975,000 after acquiring an additional 644,761 shares during the period. Alpha Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth approximately $224,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors grew its position in Verizon Communications by 24.2% in the third quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 6,248 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $281,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,213,320 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $54,490,000 after acquiring an additional 15,994 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 35,538 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,596,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.5 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.95 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $168.16 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $40.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.53.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).