PDS Planning Inc Raises Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

PDS Planning Inc grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,911 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,986 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the 4th 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 last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research raised Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $1.25 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.85. 11,347,265 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,088,338. The firm has a market cap of $167.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.03% 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).