8,451 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Purchased by Rollins Financial Advisors LLC

Rollins Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 8,451 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $338,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $42.55 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. 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 firm has a market cap of $179.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.28, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $42.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.08.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.37%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

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).