Trust Point Inc. Buys 4,247 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Trust Point Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,907 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,247 shares during the quarter. Trust Point Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,556,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,892,000 after purchasing an additional 48,294 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,095,000 after acquiring an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,463,000 after buying an additional 43,472 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after buying an additional 1,026,930 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of VZ opened at $40.00 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.61 and a 200 day moving average of $41.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by 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).