Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Consolidated Planning Corp

Consolidated Planning Corp lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,861 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 796 shares during the quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the 4th 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 acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $40.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.79, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.56.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued 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 previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Equities 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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).