Opinicus Capital Inc. Acquires 545 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Opinicus Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 33,887 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 545 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up about 1.1% of Opinicus Capital Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Opinicus Capital Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 655.5% in the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.2 %

VZ stock opened at $39.88 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $40.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.52. The stock has a market cap of $167.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

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).