Keene & Associates Inc. Purchases 1,380 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Keene & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 85,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,380 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up about 2.7% of Keene & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Keene & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $78,975,000 after purchasing an additional 644,761 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth about $224,000. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $232,389,000 after buying an additional 39,403 shares during the period. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at about $318,000. Finally, Waterway Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,819 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $666,000 after buying an additional 3,834 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VZ shares. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 over the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $41.21 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.58. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.58%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

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).