Boston Financial Mangement LLC Acquires 530 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Boston Financial Mangement LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,975 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Advyzon Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $459,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 1,501,426 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $60,042,000 after purchasing an additional 60,900 shares in the last quarter. Sunpointe LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.4% in the 4th quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 11,425 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 2,170 shares in the last quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 52,937 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,117,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corps Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $571,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.1 %

VZ stock opened at $42.49 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.59. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $178.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.45. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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 in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications 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).