Uniting Wealth Partners LLC Invests $255,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 6,380 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 6,795 shares during the period. Burney Co. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after purchasing an additional 43,472 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,333,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,394,921 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $55,783,000 after purchasing an additional 547,384 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VZ. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.82.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.4 %

VZ opened at $44.74 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.48 and a 200 day moving average of $42.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The firm has a market cap of $188.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.81, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).