Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by Flaharty Asset Management LLC

Flaharty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,652 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $251,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,244 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $687,000. Cora Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $219,000. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 22,101 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $833,000 after purchasing an additional 1,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 138,132 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,208,000 after purchasing an additional 3,040 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. 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 report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a 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 $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.90 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $40.58. The company had a trading volume of 4,308,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,960,943. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The firm has a market cap of $170.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.61.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

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).