Opal Wealth Advisors LLC Has $388,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Opal Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 76.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,691 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 4,201 shares during the quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% in the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $39.88 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $167.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. 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 posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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 prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.80%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

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).