Motiv8 Investments LLC Has $1.21 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Motiv8 Investments LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 38.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,146 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,424 shares during the period. Motiv8 Investments LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,892,000 after buying an additional 48,294 shares during the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,303,000 after purchasing an additional 6,795 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth approximately $3,376,000. Burney Co. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,463,000 after acquiring an additional 43,472 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.16 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $181.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.43, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS 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 issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 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).