DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. Acquires Shares of 3,986 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $150,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $920,455,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134,150 shares during the period. Comerica Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at about $133,491,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,782.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,974,813 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $149,850,000 after acquiring an additional 3,872,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in Verizon Communications by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,302,051 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $171,839,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,197 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.36. 9,193,900 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,024,703. The firm has a market cap of $165.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.76%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

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).