Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3,233.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $38,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ traded up $1.09 on Tuesday, reaching $39.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 25,970,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,270,385. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $166.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $40.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.44.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 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).