Tiller Private Wealth Inc. Increases Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Tiller Private Wealth Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 16.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,223 shares during the quarter. Tiller Private Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after acquiring an additional 11,987,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $1,829,675,000. 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 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.35 during trading on Thursday, reaching $40.13. 17,497,914 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,634,758. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.17. The firm has a market cap of $168.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 96.38%.

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).