RIA Advisory Group LLC Has $138,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

RIA Advisory Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 81.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,658 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 15,611 shares during the period. RIA Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $138,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 25,460 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $960,000 after buying an additional 1,239 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,615 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,512 shares during the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $222,000. Davidson Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 13,629 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $514,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HTLF Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $779,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Barclays lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of VZ opened at $40.50 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.56 and its 200-day moving average is $38.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $170.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.41.

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 company had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.57%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

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).