Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Buys 401 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,418 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the period. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VZ. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $232,389,000 after acquiring an additional 39,403 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 22,340 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $958,000 after acquiring an additional 3,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $898,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $42.77 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $180.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued 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 period last year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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).