Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV Raises Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 19,738 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 807 shares during the quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BCK Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth approximately $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.9% in the first quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 174.0% in the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,675,000 after purchasing an additional 58,283 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 10.5% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $60,828,000 after purchasing an additional 113,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $567,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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 increased their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Wolfe Research raised 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, Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $39.83. 9,288,369 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,586,301. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.17. The firm has a market cap of $167.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

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).