Avantra Family Wealth Inc. Invests $678,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Avantra Family Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 16,949 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $678,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $216,266,000 after buying an additional 4,711,309 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $217,087,000 after buying an additional 3,519,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 77.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $274,052,000 after buying an additional 2,656,396 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $39.41 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $165.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.52, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.57.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).