LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA Grows Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 22.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,765 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $111,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,892,000 after buying an additional 48,294 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 6,795 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,376,000. Burney Co. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after acquiring an additional 43,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $42.63 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $40.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.90. The firm has a market cap of $179.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.30, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.36%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. This trade represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. 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 note on Friday, December 20th. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.11.

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).