Foster Group Inc. Purchases New Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Foster Group Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,603 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 114.6% during the 4th quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,071.04. This trade represents a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $43.82 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business’s 50 day moving average is $43.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.28. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36. The firm has a market cap of $184.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

About Verizon Communications

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).