Larson Financial Group LLC Buys 869 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,403 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 869 shares during the quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of VZ stock traded up $1.29 on Tuesday, hitting $39.89. The company had a trading volume of 13,513,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,116,744. The firm has a market cap of $167.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $40.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.67%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded 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 research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

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).