Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC Purchases 2,442 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,954 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,442 shares during the period. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Trilogy Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 5,506 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,636 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 40,440 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,617,000 after buying an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Inman Jager Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $1,461,000. Finally, Tyche Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 67.3% during the fourth quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 32,909 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after acquiring an additional 13,244 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.14 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $40.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.54. The company has a market capitalization of $168.99 billion, a PE ratio of 9.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week 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.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

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).