World Investment Advisors Buys 14,363 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

World Investment Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 6.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 238,900 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 14,363 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors' holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $10,837,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $14,549,343,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,337 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 96,823,092 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $3,862,441,000 after buying an additional 998,847 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,300,846,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,801,282,000 after purchasing an additional 4,951,733 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.3% in 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 valued at $1,555,351,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568,518 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.25.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $43.62. The company had a trading volume of 10,301,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,131,578. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company's 50-day moving average is $43.23 and its 200-day moving average is $42.28. The company has a market capitalization of $183.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.21%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

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).