Logan Capital Management Inc. Acquires 6,924 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Logan Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 126,972 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,924 shares during the quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 912,730 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $36,500,000 after acquiring an additional 55,206 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,762 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 1,669 shares during the period. Crescent Sterling Ltd. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. now owns 30,671 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after buying an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 25,583 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,023,000 after buying an additional 6,059 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 78,026 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,120,000 after buying an additional 1,251 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.65 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $43.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.98. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The company has a market capitalization of $184.04 billion, a PE ratio of 10.54, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,376,300. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company 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).