Apollon Wealth Management LLC Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 19.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 145,184 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,079 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,473,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 3,233.3% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.45 during trading on Monday, reaching $39.34. 13,346,228 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,931,412. The firm has a market cap of $165.59 billion, a PE ratio of 14.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. 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 50-day simple moving average of $40.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.76%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

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).