Berry Wealth Group LP Takes Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Berry Wealth Group LP purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 40,305 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $1,520,000. Verizon Communications makes up 1.4% of Berry Wealth Group LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its position in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during 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 last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during 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 acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on VZ. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.50. 7,162,081 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,994,480. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42. The company has a market cap of $166.27 billion, a PE ratio of 14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.74.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders 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 6.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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).