Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Grows Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 677,897 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 16,005 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $27,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Essential Planning LLC. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6,415.4% in the 4th quarter. Essential Planning LLC. now owns 295,147 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,463,000 after purchasing an additional 290,617 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 76,583 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,063,000 after purchasing an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $106,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 57,694 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,307,000 after purchasing an additional 3,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,723 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $869,000 after purchasing an additional 5,391 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of Verizon Communications 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $183.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.82 and a 200-day moving average of $41.89. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).