Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Purchases 443 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,369 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 443 shares during the period. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $216,266,000 after buying an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $217,087,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,258 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 77.1% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $274,052,000 after purchasing an additional 2,656,396 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE VZ opened at $40.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $168.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.78%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).