15,634 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Bought by MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC

MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 15,634 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $589,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $154,000. Telemus Capital LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 47.4% in the 3rd quarter. Telemus Capital LLC now owns 28,907 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $937,000 after buying an additional 9,299 shares during the period. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC now owns 262,354 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,503,000 after purchasing an additional 787 shares in the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.5% in the third quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,352 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JB Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 131,033 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,247,000 after buying an additional 29,311 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, January 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,854,269 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,754,469. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.95. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The firm has a market cap of $164.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.66, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 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).