Bay Capital Advisors LLC Makes New $440,000 Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Bay Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 11,014 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $440,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. PKS Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $740,000. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,598 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,464,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 279,172 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,164,000 after purchasing an additional 18,427 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 136,999 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335 shares during the period. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 44,606 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,782,000 after purchasing an additional 4,377 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.53.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $43.59 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.02. 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 fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The company has a market capitalization of $183.48 billion, a PE ratio of 10.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.22%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Company 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).