Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Buys 712 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,377 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 712 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Hilltop Partners LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Hilltop Partners LLC now owns 5,201 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $208,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 163,615 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,543,000 after purchasing an additional 14,866 shares during the last quarter. Fusion Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Fusion Capital LLC now owns 6,087 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 971 shares during the last quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. now owns 44,802 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,792,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Linscomb Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 178,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,155,000 after purchasing an additional 3,172 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of VZ opened at $43.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.71. The firm 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.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group upped their price target 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. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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).