LMG Wealth Partners LLC Has $2.12 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

LMG Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,937 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,666 shares during the quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Corps Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $571,000. Emerald Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 19,347 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $774,000 after acquiring an additional 983 shares in the last quarter. Financial Sense Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $234,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 145,570 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,821,000 after purchasing an additional 12,916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 64.6% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,394,921 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $55,783,000 after purchasing an additional 547,384 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. 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 report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $42.04 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $176.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $39.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.58.

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 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 quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

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