HUB Investment Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 32,181 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 798 shares during the quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,083,337,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,346,682,000 after buying an additional 7,421,148 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 25,227,069 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $983,445,000 after buying an additional 6,153,408 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $177,799,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 184.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $217,087,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,258 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % 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 valued at $2,020,895 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.74 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $184.14 billion, a PE ratio of 10.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50 day moving average is $41.39 and its 200 day moving average is $41.99.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released 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 quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.20%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Eleven 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.11.

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).