Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Purchases 50,184 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 509,961 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 50,184 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $20,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $1,083,337,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 valued at $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 25,227,069 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $983,445,000 after buying an additional 6,153,408 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.93 on Wednesday, hitting $43.88. The company had a trading volume of 9,616,718 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,082,751. The company has a market cap of $188.25 billion, a PE ratio of 10.60, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.96.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, 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 this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,550,859.84. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,000 shares of company stock worth $969,340 in the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Company 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).