K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Makes New $377,000 Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 10,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $377,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $39.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,246,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,678,804. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.51. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate 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).