Chicago Capital LLC Has $1.25 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Chicago Capital LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,239 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,661 shares during the quarter. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Means Investment CO. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. now owns 19,021 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $761,000 after acquiring an additional 895 shares in the last quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. FSM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,125 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,490 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Burford Brothers Inc. now owns 47,276 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,891,000 after buying an additional 5,576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Willis Investment Counsel grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 725,343 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $29,006,000 after acquiring an additional 45,973 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on VZ. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. DZ Bank raised 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 note on Wednesday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of VZ opened at $40.00 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $168.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.78%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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).