Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC Has $1.17 Million Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 30,996 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,292 shares during the period. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 4,527,387 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during 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 buying an additional 78,995,341 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 11,987,691 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,829,675,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.37 on Friday, reaching $40.50. 24,693,029 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,784,156. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The company has a market capitalization of $170.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.56 and a 200 day moving average of $38.24.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 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 paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.50.

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).