Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Grows Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 5,775 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,086,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 10,961 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Western Financial Corp CA grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 16,564 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $624,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on VZ shares. 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. UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.45 on Monday, reaching $39.34. 13,346,228 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,931,412. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.95. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.76%. 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).