Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 980,949 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 727 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $38,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 58.0% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $78,975,000 after purchasing an additional 644,761 shares during the period. Alpha Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $224,000. Creative Planning increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 861,988 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,712,000 after purchasing an additional 23,696 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $232,389,000 after purchasing an additional 39,403 shares during the period. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on VZ. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of VZ opened at $41.00 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $39.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.90, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released 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 last year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.61%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Verizon Communications 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).