MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. Buys 77,162 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 994,939 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 77,162 shares during the quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $39,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $357,398,000 after acquiring an additional 8,695,736 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,346,682,000 after buying an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 52.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $792,937,000 after purchasing an additional 6,846,514 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,376,300. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DZ Bank raised 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. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, reaching $43.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,389,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,140,026. The company's fifty day moving average is $43.57 and its 200-day moving average is $42.01. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The company has a market capitalization of $185.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.62, 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.16%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

About Verizon Communications

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).