Invera Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 369 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Invera Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,037 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the quarter. Invera Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,892,000 after buying an additional 48,294 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,376,000. Burney Co. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after acquiring an additional 43,472 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $4,333,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $42.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.15, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

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).