4WEALTH Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 10,053 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

4WEALTH Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 10,053 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $1,083,337,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,346,682,000 after buying an additional 7,421,148 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $792,937,000 after buying an additional 6,846,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 25,227,069 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $983,445,000 after acquiring an additional 6,153,408 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $43.31 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $43.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The company has a market capitalization of $185.81 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 64.52%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company's stock, valued at $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 30,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,298,440. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

About Verizon Communications

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).

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