WealthTrust Axiom LLC Raises Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

WealthTrust Axiom LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,422 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up about 1.5% of WealthTrust Axiom LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. WealthTrust Axiom LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.63. The company had a trading volume of 8,964,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,018,658. The firm has a market cap of $166.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.67. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.71%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

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).