Norges Bank Purchases New Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 57,535,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $2,300,846,000. Norges Bank owned 1.37% of Verizon Communications as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $131,000. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 5,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 16,946 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $678,000 after buying an additional 804 shares during the last quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,927,000. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 31.5% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 259,951 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,395,000 after acquiring an additional 62,217 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.71.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $44.18 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $41.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.05. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.99 billion, a PE ratio of 10.67, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.13%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.46%.

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).