Everpar Advisors LLC Takes $1.01 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 26,860 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,013,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VZ. WealthTrust Axiom LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,479,000 after purchasing an additional 2,422 shares in the last quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in 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 buying an additional 413,869 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,131,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 3,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $212,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.48. 10,079,800 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,741,629. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.30 and a 200 day moving average of $39.01. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.74%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on VZ. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

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).