Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 169,944 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 3,043 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its position in Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on VZ shares. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $39.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,245,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,159,520. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company’s 50-day moving average is $40.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The stock has a market cap of $166.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.41.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 99.25%.

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).