McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. Acquires 584 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,125 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 584 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after purchasing an additional 78,995,341 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,829,675,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after purchasing an additional 11,987,691 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 175,039,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,509,733,000 after purchasing an additional 8,171,700 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.3% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,604,493 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $540,193,000 after purchasing an additional 4,756,222 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $41.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,763,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,343,715. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.21. The stock has a market cap of $176.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Citigroup upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.86.

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).