20,356 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Purchased by LifePlan Financial LLC

LifePlan Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 20,356 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $767,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 173.7% in the 3rd quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $21,137,000 after purchasing an additional 413,869 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $5,131,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,677,000 after buying an additional 3,020 shares during the period. GFS Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,000. Finally, Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $306,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $40.10. 16,440,718 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,791,131. The company has a market capitalization of $168.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.05.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.63%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

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).

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