Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC Boosts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,691 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the period. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on VZ. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $43.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.65. The company has a market cap of $182.31 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given 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 yield of 6.26%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

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).