Trilogy Capital Inc. Purchases 575 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Trilogy Capital Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,506 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the period. Trilogy Capital Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $220,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 58.0% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $78,975,000 after purchasing an additional 644,761 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $224,000. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 6,248 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217 shares during the last quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 131,700 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,915,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Common Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 241,045 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,825,000 after purchasing an additional 17,874 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VZ. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $39.88 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.52. The company has a market cap of $167.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.80%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by 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).