Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. Lowers Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,796 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 374 shares during the quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $105,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 15.4% during the third quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 16,999 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $551,000 after buying an additional 2,266 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 641,118 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $20,779,000 after buying an additional 17,700 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.9% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 325,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,545,000 after buying an additional 21,026 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 41.0% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107,934 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,498,000 after buying an additional 31,378 shares during the period. Finally, Iowa State Bank grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the third quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 38,476 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,247,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.8 %

VZ opened at $39.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.96 billion, a PE ratio of 14.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.79%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

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).