Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA

Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,795 shares during the quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $15,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Genesis Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $210,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,915 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Boothe Investment Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Boothe Investment Group Inc. now owns 24,879 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $995,000 after acquiring an additional 1,814 shares during the last quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,077 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,883,000 after acquiring an additional 2,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $332,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Ten investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $42.77 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $180.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.33, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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).