Willis Investment Counsel Acquires 45,973 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Willis Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 725,343 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 45,973 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up 1.9% of Willis Investment Counsel's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Willis Investment Counsel's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $29,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $8,892,000 after acquiring an additional 48,294 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.4% during the 4th 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. raised its holdings 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 valued at $48,503,000 after buying an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. This trade represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 in the last three months. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on VZ shares. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. 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. Tigress Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.8 %

VZ stock traded up $0.33 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $40.14. The company had a trading volume of 16,813,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,911,574. The business has a 50 day moving average of $40.44 and a 200 day moving average of $41.54. 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 company has a market cap of $168.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.70, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released 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 posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 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).