Millstone Evans Group LLC Purchases New Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 12,474 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $232,389,000 after buying an additional 39,403 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $2,790,000. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 199,685 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $8,968,000 after buying an additional 23,711 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $880,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.5% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 7,488,172 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $336,294,000 after buying an additional 458,021 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % 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. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.71.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $43.46. 21,480,936 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,343,427. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36. The company has a market cap of $182.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.24%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 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).