Synergy Asset Management LLC Has $4.47 Million Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Synergy Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 118.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 105,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 57,275 shares during the quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,471,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after acquiring an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711,309 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $217,087,000 after buying an additional 3,519,258 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 77.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $274,052,000 after buying an additional 2,656,396 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.25 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.61. The stock has a market cap of $169.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.73%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

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).