Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Boosts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 251,047 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,625 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $10,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 12,244 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $550,000 after acquiring an additional 1,680 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 7,133 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,327 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $733,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 758,019 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,850,000 after buying an additional 9,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chelsea Counsel Co. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 31,420 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,411,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.9 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $44.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.26 billion, a PE ratio of 10.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.01. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Ten 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.92.

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).