Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by Waterway Wealth Management LLC

Waterway Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,765 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,946 shares during the period. Waterway Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in 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 last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 655.5% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the sale, 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $43.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.88 billion, a PE ratio of 10.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.27%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

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).