Tyche Wealth Partners LLC Makes New $835,000 Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Tyche Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 22,146 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $835,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after acquiring an additional 930,367 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,115,932,000 after acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after acquiring an additional 11,987,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,829,675,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $39.78. The stock had a trading volume of 14,015,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,711,529. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.10. The stock has a market cap of $167.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).