Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by Ascent Wealth Partners LLC

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,418 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Atlantic Family Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $361,000. Cabot Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Cabot Wealth Management Inc. now owns 216,467 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,657,000 after buying an additional 7,836 shares during the last quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 86,699 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,967 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 130,047 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,201,000 after purchasing an additional 2,742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $2,019,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Ten 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of VZ opened at $42.77 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Company 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).