Rafferty Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 378,643 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 40,474 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $15,142,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Graney & King LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares in the company, valued at $1,550,859.84. This trade represents a 12.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,500 shares of company stock worth $1,376,300. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.97. The company had a trading volume of 13,389,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,191,021. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36. The company's fifty day moving average is $43.58 and its 200-day moving average is $42.04. The company has a market capitalization of $185.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.16%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

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).