Strong Tower Advisory Services Has $1.99 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 52,787 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,747 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications accounts for about 0.9% of Strong Tower Advisory Services’ portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,990,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,396,167,000 after acquiring an additional 930,367 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 339,007,286 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,607,681,000 after acquiring an additional 5,910,739 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 175,039,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,509,733,000 after purchasing an additional 8,171,700 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,115,932,000 after acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $41.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $176.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.34. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.21.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 96.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’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 value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company 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).