Advyzon Investment Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Advyzon Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 11,474 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $459,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $42.04 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.15, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.58.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.45%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was 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 directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company 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).