OLD Mission Capital LLC Invests $6.11 Million in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

OLD Mission Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 152,717 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $6,107,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,083,337,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 25,227,069 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $983,445,000 after purchasing an additional 6,153,408 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,549,343,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,337 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.71.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $45.40 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $191.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its 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 return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.97%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. This trade represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last 90 days. 0.02% 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).