Schulhoff & Co. Inc. Acquires 443 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Schulhoff & Co. Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,802 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 443 shares during the quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Linscomb Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 178,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,155,000 after purchasing an additional 3,172 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $576,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 30,146 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 8,424 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6,475.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 444,969 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $17,794,000 after acquiring an additional 438,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 50,323 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,012,000 after purchasing an additional 1,945 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE VZ opened at $43.21 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.69. The company has a market capitalization of $181.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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).