Rockline Wealth Management LLC Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Rockline Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 61,697 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 5,614 shares during the period. Rockline Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 655.5% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.57. The company has a market cap of $168.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released 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 firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

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

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).