Picton Mahoney Asset Management Acquires New Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 74,862 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $2,821,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $147,000. Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,013,000. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 89.5% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 20,785 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 9,818 shares during the last quarter. ShoreHaven Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. ShoreHaven Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,774 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $632,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the period. Finally, Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $316,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.4 %

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.17 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.48. The stock had a trading volume of 10,079,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,741,629. The stock has a market cap of $166.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.74%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 99.25%.

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).