Invera Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $268,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Invera Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,108 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ZRC Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 264.4% in the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,891 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 251.5% during the fourth quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 74,795 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,820,000 after purchasing an additional 53,515 shares during the period. Windward Capital Management Co. CA raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Windward Capital Management Co. CA now owns 65,157 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,456,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $388,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.86.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.41 on Monday, reaching $40.78. 3,666,413 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,224,639. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $171.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.76, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.40. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.44 and a 200-day moving average of $37.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.52%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.38%.

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).