Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,530 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 4,038 shares during the period. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC now owns 71,220 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,685,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. LifePlan Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $767,000. Capital Analysts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 50.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 71,338 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,690,000 after purchasing an additional 23,969 shares during the last quarter. Keel Point LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 14,001 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,706 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aurora Private Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. now owns 12,474 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Barclays boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ traded down $0.46 on Tuesday, hitting $39.65. 6,935,436 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,606,133. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $40.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.10. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The firm has a market cap of $166.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.71%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.03% 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).