Cetera Trust Company N.A Purchases New Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 973 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Naples Global Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 13,018 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 67,895 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,200,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241 shares in the last quarter. Advocate Group LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 196,826 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,379,000 after acquiring an additional 17,196 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 30,439 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $987,000 after acquiring an additional 1,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Piscataqua Savings Bank raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 12,812 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $38.62 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $162.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.89%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.38%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).