Evanson Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 6,195 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Evanson Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,195 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 173.7% during the third quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $21,137,000 after purchasing an additional 413,869 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 3,020 shares in the last quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $306,000. Finally, Regal Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 183,615 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,951,000 after acquiring an additional 35,675 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.86.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $41.95. The company had a trading volume of 19,763,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,343,715. The company’s fifty day moving average is $40.57 and its 200 day moving average is $37.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

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).