St. Louis Trust Co Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

St. Louis Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,603 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the quarter. St. Louis Trust Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $249,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 18,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 3,079 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 80.5% in the 3rd quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 21,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $742,000 after purchasing an additional 9,441 shares during the period. Sweet Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 111.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC now owns 12,512 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 6,598 shares during the period. Edmp Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 34,014 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,102,000 after acquiring an additional 5,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $596,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of VZ traded down $0.60 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.49. 20,216,529 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,158,723. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.67. The company has a market capitalization of $166.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

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).