Certior Financial Group LLC Purchases New Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Certior Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 16,248 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $650,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.11 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $181.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).