Wagner Wealth Management LLC Has $2.31 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Wagner Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 57,684 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 11,425 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises about 0.6% of Wagner Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Wagner Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after buying an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 184.3% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $217,087,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 77.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $274,052,000 after acquiring an additional 2,656,396 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.88 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.55. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $167.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

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

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).