Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Chilton Capital Management LLC

Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 28,058 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,803 shares during the period. Chilton Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after purchasing an additional 78,995,341 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $1,829,675,000. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,678,273,000 after acquiring an additional 11,987,691 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 175,039,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,509,733,000 after acquiring an additional 8,171,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 81.3% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,604,493 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $540,193,000 after acquiring an additional 4,756,222 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. 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 report on Friday, January 26th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.86.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $41.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,771,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,609,096. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The business’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.38%.

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).