Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Raises Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,068,889 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 217,759 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $162,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ethic Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 489,501 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $19,575,000 after purchasing an additional 43,755 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 131,046 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,241,000 after buying an additional 6,952 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 955,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,216,000 after purchasing an additional 4,107 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,301,075 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $691,870,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 141,518 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,659,000 after buying an additional 26,366 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,500 shares of company stock worth $1,376,300 over the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.60 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.97. 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 $183.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.22%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

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).