LGT Group Foundation Has $12.04 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

LGT Group Foundation lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 321,150 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 25,581 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $12,040,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,446,194,000 after acquiring an additional 2,015,139 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $920,455,000 after acquiring an additional 4,134,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.6% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,261,791 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $300,175,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385,957 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.04 on Friday, reaching $38.89. 13,160,129 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,017,807. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The firm has a market cap of $163.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.36 and a 200-day moving average of $38.74.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm's revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.84%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).