Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC Increases Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,286 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 939 shares during the period. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,771,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 48,294 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at about $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,095,000 after buying an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. boosted its position in shares of 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 period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026,930 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on VZ shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.2 %

VZ opened at $39.88 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $167.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G 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. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $40.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

About Verizon Communications

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).