Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC Has $537,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 25.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,244 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,910 shares during the period. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on VZ shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Redburn Atlantic raised 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 report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. 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 report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.91 on Monday, hitting $40.59. The company had a trading volume of 3,374,813 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,940,461. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $40.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.61. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Verizon Communications 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).