Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 4.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 705,132 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 27,235 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $31,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 96,823,092 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $3,862,441,000 after acquiring an additional 998,847 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,300,846,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Verizon Communications by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,801,282,000 after buying an additional 4,951,733 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,893,487 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,555,351,000 after buying an additional 4,568,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 36,851,192 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,473,557,000 after purchasing an additional 990,775 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VZ. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $43.10. 16,557,678 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,882,436. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.70 billion, a PE ratio of 10.05, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.37. The company's 50 day moving average price is $42.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.51.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.17%.

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).