Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by WR Wealth Planners LLC

WR Wealth Planners LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,507 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $140,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 655.5% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.12 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 firm 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.71. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share 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 business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

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).