Cetera Trust Company N.A Takes $37,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 973 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after buying an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after buying an additional 4,134,150 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $133,491,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3,782.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,974,813 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $149,850,000 after purchasing an additional 3,872,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 104.0% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,302,051 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $171,839,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,197 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 4.6 %

VZ opened at $38.62 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during 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%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.89%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

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).