Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Increases Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 72,957 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,621 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 18,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 3,079 shares in the last quarter. SOL Capital Management CO boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. SOL Capital Management CO now owns 11,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,642 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 8,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 1,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC now owns 68,892 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup lifted 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. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised 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 report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.2 %

VZ stock traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $39.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,246,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,678,804. The company has a market cap of $166.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.46 and its 200-day moving average is $38.51.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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).