Fisher Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 74,370 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,502 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 655.5% in the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

VZ stock opened at $42.83 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $40.40 and its 200 day moving average is $41.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $180.32 billion, a PE ratio of 10.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.33%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Verizon Communications

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).