Argentarii LLC Makes New Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Argentarii LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 6,999 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of VZ opened at $46.13 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.84. 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 company has a market capitalization of $194.20 billion, a PE ratio of 11.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $46.20.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders 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 5.87%. 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).