W Advisors LLC Has $561,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

W Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 25.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,872 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,975 shares during the period. W Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $561,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Legacy Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $66,000. Redmond Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 32,163 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,042,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.4% during the third quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 100,482 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,257,000 after purchasing an additional 4,194 shares during the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 2,045,100 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $66,282,000 after acquiring an additional 32,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 21.1% in the third quarter. Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. now owns 53,589 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,737,000 after acquiring an additional 9,323 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $38.89. 13,195,563 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,003,748. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The firm has a market cap of $163.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71.

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 firm had revenue of $33 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications 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).