Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Acquires 517 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 286,867 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $10,815,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wolfe Research raised Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $40.10. The company had a trading volume of 19,838,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,158,041. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.45 and a 200 day moving average of $38.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $168.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. 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 results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.63%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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).