Sage Investment Counsel LLC Invests $281,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sage Investment Counsel LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 7,021 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,457,000. Tower Bridge Advisors grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 23,344 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $934,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,765 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,946 shares during the last quarter. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 79.9% during the fourth quarter. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. now owns 9,132 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 4,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motco grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Motco now owns 121,496 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,859,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.12 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $181.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.71.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 period last year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

Verizon Communications 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).