Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC Buys 1,180 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,004 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares during the period. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $679,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 339,007,286 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,607,681,000 after buying an additional 5,910,739 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 175,039,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,509,733,000 after purchasing an additional 8,171,700 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after buying an additional 4,527,387 shares during the period. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,115,932,000 after acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $40.88 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.26. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.21. The company has a market capitalization of $171.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.86.

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).