Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Holdings Boosted by Motiv8 Investments LLC

Motiv8 Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 38.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,146 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,424 shares during the quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,892,000 after purchasing an additional 48,294 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 6,795 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,376,000. Burney Co. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after purchasing an additional 43,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ opened at $43.16 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.68. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. This trade represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).