Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Increases Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,162 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. RVW Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE VZ traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $39.87. The stock had a trading volume of 2,417,475 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,491,369. The stock has a market cap of $167.62 billion, a PE ratio of 14.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.17.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.67%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

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).