GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. Buys New Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 19,858 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $749,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. Selective Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 10,961 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Western Financial Corp CA lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 16,564 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $624,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VZ shares. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ stock opened at $38.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.79.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.84%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).