Aviance Capital Partners LLC Raises Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 392.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,510 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 25,114 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $920,455,000 after buying an additional 4,134,150 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $133,491,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,782.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,974,813 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $149,850,000 after buying an additional 3,872,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,302,051 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $171,839,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of VZ traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $39.34. 13,346,228 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,931,412. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The business's 50-day moving average price is $40.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.95. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.76%. 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).

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