Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Acquires 2,621 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company 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 given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.2 %

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

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Verizon Communications

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).