Iowa State Bank Acquires 15,250 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Iowa State Bank grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 27.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 70,276 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 15,250 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,810,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 44.0% in the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 65,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,619,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,966,661 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $357,590,000 after purchasing an additional 731,828 shares during the last quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 45,481 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 55,221 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,208,000 after acquiring an additional 3,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.50 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $39.76. 15,375,986 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,423,523. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.56 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $167.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $41.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.86.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).