Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan Takes $6.21 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 155,225 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $6,207,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.9% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 12,244 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $550,000 after acquiring an additional 1,680 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.1% during the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 7,133 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,327 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 819 shares during the period. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 758,019 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $33,850,000 after acquiring an additional 9,846 shares during the period. Finally, Chelsea Counsel Co. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 31,420 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,411,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Ten 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, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.9 %

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.40 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $44.01. The company had a trading volume of 16,479,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,166,780. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36. The firm has a market cap of $185.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $43.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.04.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.46%.

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).