Flossbach Von Storch SE Purchases 90,193 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Flossbach Von Storch SE lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 29.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 400,898 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 90,193 shares during the quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $18,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $14,549,343,000 after buying an additional 5,697,337 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 96,823,092 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $3,862,441,000 after purchasing an additional 998,847 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $2,300,846,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,801,282,000 after buying an additional 4,951,733 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 13.3% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 4,568,518 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on VZ. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.00.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ traded down $0.40 on Friday, hitting $41.63. 20,156,157 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,178,798. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61. The business's fifty day moving average is $43.18 and its 200 day moving average is $42.35. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company 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).