Silver Oak Securities Incorporated Has $833,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,101 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,628 shares during the quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $833,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Fiduciary Group LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 138,132 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,208,000 after purchasing an additional 3,040 shares during the last quarter. Shufro Rose & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Shufro Rose & Co. LLC now owns 11,803 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $445,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 25,612 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $966,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337 shares during the period. Stonebrook Private Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,492,000. Finally, Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,941 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on VZ. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.1 %

VZ opened at $40.10 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.96, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.63%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

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 directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate 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).