Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. Takes $316,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 8,391 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $316,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its position in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its position 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 worth $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.5 %

VZ stock traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.49. 20,216,529 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,158,723. The company has a market capitalization of $166.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.74.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.74%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications 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).