Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Tyche Wealth Partners LLC

Tyche Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 67.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 32,909 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,244 shares during the period. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,316,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $78,975,000 after acquiring an additional 644,761 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 857,524 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,511,000 after acquiring an additional 55,411 shares during the period. Alpha Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $224,000. Evanson Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 5,693 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares during the period. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 373,419 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $16,770,000 after acquiring an additional 24,557 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. DZ Bank upgraded 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. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last 90 days. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $40.14 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.54. The stock has a market cap of $168.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.70, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).