Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Purchases 20,610 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,075,431 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,610 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $82,996,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Redwood Park Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Bank of Hawaii increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Hawaii now owns 52,408 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 23,108 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $924,000 after buying an additional 5,344 shares during the last quarter. F M Investments LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. F M Investments LLC now owns 129,952 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,197,000 after buying an additional 21,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP grew its position in Verizon Communications by 316.6% in the fourth quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 229,974 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,197,000 after acquiring an additional 174,769 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $48.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.85.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.37, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.06.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.31%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

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).