Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 23.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,407 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,880 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 336,043 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $13,438,000 after purchasing an additional 27,138 shares in the last quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 154,859 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,193,000 after acquiring an additional 2,928 shares in the last quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 11,735 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 877 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 42.7% in the 4th quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 32,853 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,314,000 after acquiring an additional 9,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northeast Investment Management increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Northeast Investment Management now owns 25,543 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,021,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $39.88 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.53. The stock has a market cap of $167.86 billion, a PE ratio of 9.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. 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 6.80%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

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).