Putney Financial Group LLC Makes New Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,519 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $301,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Perennial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,415,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $74,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 44,982 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,799,000 after purchasing an additional 6,501 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,516,099 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $60,629,000 after purchasing an additional 445,690 shares during the period. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 51.8% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 74,476 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $2,978,000 after purchasing an additional 25,430 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,550,859.84. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.18 on Tuesday, reaching $43.50. 12,862,291 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,187,579. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $183.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The business's 50 day moving average price is $43.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.15.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.23%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI raised shares of 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. Tigress Financial upped their target price on 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 boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.41.

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).