Ameriflex Group Inc. Acquires New Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 14,278 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $562,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. United Advisor Group LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. United Advisor Group LLC now owns 48,979 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,959,000 after acquiring an additional 2,187 shares during the last quarter. Challenger Wealth Management acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $395,000. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 154,102 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,163,000 after acquiring an additional 1,249 shares during the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $301,000. Finally, Perennial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $4,415,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.38 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $43.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.12. The company has a market cap of $182.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.25%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. This represents a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is 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).