Florida Financial Advisors LLC Takes Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Florida Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 5,685 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $1,781,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 6,355 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 46,871 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 83,956 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,770,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $210,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.71.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.46 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36. The business has a 50 day moving average of $41.73 and a 200-day moving average of $42.04. 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 stock has a market cap of $182.95 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (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 in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.24%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).