Two Sigma Advisers LP Takes $1.61 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 40,200 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $1,608,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on VZ. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.59 on Friday, reaching $43.92. 26,553,530 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,175,530. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $43.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.18. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The company has a market cap of $185.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

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

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).