Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 4,226 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $169,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the fourth 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. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 655.5% during the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $43.67 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.93. The firm has a market cap of $183.82 billion, a PE ratio of 10.55, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.21%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. This trade represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).