Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2,743.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,827,609 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,763,339 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $68,901,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 34.2% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 1,073,490 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $40,470,000 after buying an additional 273,548 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 57,639 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,173,000 after purchasing an additional 11,562 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 140.7% during the fourth quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 26,671 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 15,590 shares during the last quarter. Coombe Bender & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Finally, Mechanics Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 23,533 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $887,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on VZ. Raymond James upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ traded down $0.25 on Thursday, reaching $38.95. 7,921,478 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,984,047. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $163.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.83%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

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).