Hemington Wealth Management Acquires 817 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Hemington Wealth Management increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 21.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,585 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 817 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $183,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.52 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.03 and its 200-day moving average is $41.56. 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 company has a market cap of $170.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.79, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly 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 last year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s dividend 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).