Vertex Planning Partners LLC Has $429,000 Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Vertex Planning Partners LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 66.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,729 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,296 shares during the quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,781,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,355 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 6,909 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 284,538 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,779,000 after purchasing an additional 5,745 shares during the period. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 16,165 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,379 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. This trade represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ opened at $44.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $41.98 and a 200-day moving average of $42.07. The company has a market cap of $189.38 billion, a PE ratio of 10.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.02%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

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).