Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by World Equity Group Inc.

World Equity Group Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 89.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,640 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,449 shares during the quarter. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 184.3% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $217,087,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,258 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 77.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $274,052,000 after acquiring an additional 2,656,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,081,241 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $180.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).