Cowa LLC Acquires 4,211 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cowa LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 35.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,979 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 4,211 shares during the period. Cowa LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $639,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 58.0% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $78,975,000 after purchasing an additional 644,761 shares during the period. Alpha Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $232,389,000 after purchasing an additional 39,403 shares during the period. McAdam LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the third quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 18,789 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $844,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to 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 news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $42.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.61. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.46%.

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).