Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC Increases Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,114 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after buying an additional 2,081,241 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after buying an additional 565,842 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $815,636,000 after buying an additional 502,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 12,493,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $561,105,000 after buying an additional 46,100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $39.94 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $168.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.65, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $40.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.56.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

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).