Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA Has $15.30 Million Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 6,795 shares during the quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $15,303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Genesis Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $210,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,915 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Boothe Investment Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Boothe Investment Group Inc. now owns 24,879 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $995,000 after purchasing an additional 1,814 shares during the last quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,077 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,883,000 after purchasing an additional 2,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $332,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company's stock, valued at $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $43.21. 19,193,374 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,035,664. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.46%.

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).