18,626 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Bought by ABC Arbitrage SA

ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 18,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $745,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 137,768 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,509,000 after buying an additional 5,913 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 105,036 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,200,000 after buying an additional 6,442 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 45,192 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,807,000 after buying an additional 3,473 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 720,662 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $28,819,000 after purchasing an additional 88,937 shares during the period. Finally, Campbell Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Campbell Wealth Management now owns 5,732 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.00 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.90, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.56.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.61%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on VZ. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded 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 issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).