Coldstream Capital Management Inc. Takes $5.85 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 148,361 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $5,845,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. HBC Financial Services PLLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP increased its position in Verizon Communications by 273.5% during the third quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 1,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP increased its position in Verizon Communications by 41.0% during the third quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 1,077 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 38.7% during the third quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,236 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avion Wealth increased its position in Verizon Communications by 273.3% during the third quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 1,284 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 940 shares during the last quarter. 60.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on VZ. Tigress Financial cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $68.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Friday, December 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Verizon Communications from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,199 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total transaction of $262,763.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 81,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,983,437. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $36.79 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.99. The stock has a market cap of $154.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.55 and a fifty-two week high of $55.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $35.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.14 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 24.60%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6525 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 6th. This represents a $2.61 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.09%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 51.58%.

Verizon Communications Profile

(Get Rating)

Verizon Communications, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of communications, information, and entertainment products and services. It operates through the Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business) segments. The Consumer segment provides consumer-focused wireless and wire line communications services and products.