Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Has $1.10 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,523 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,892,000 after buying an additional 48,294 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,303,000 after purchasing an additional 6,795 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,376,000. Burney Co. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after purchasing an additional 43,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after buying an additional 1,026,930 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $43.16 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $181.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.43, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.28%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

About Verizon Communications

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).