Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC Purchases New Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,662 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $106,000.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $43.12 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.72. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $181.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

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).