Wynn Capital LLC Invests $307,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Wynn Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 8,140 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.21 on Wednesday, reaching $39.49. 15,942,031 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,223,914. The company has a market cap of $166.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.71, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.52 and a 200-day moving average of $38.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.74%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

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).