Reitz Capital Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Reitz Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 46.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,545 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 2,090 shares during the period. Verizon Communications accounts for about 0.4% of Reitz Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Reitz Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ossiam lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 658.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ossiam now owns 1,361,200 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $50,623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181,766 shares during the last quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 173.7% in the 3rd quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $21,137,000 after purchasing an additional 413,869 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 3,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $306,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.86.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.01 on Tuesday, reaching $40.88. The stock had a trading volume of 17,846,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,364,316. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.40. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.49 and a 200 day moving average of $37.26. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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).