Marco Investment Management LLC Purchases 450 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Marco Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 80,963 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. BBR Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. BBR Partners LLC now owns 9,384 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 490,299 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $19,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,441 shares during the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 39,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,574,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 82,594 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,303,000 after purchasing an additional 4,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $815,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 3.3 %

VZ opened at $44.26 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $40.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $186.30 billion, a PE ratio of 10.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.12%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).