Core Wealth Partners LLC Has $846,000 Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Core Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,156 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Core Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $846,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 period. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 655.5% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.71.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $43.46 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The firm has a market cap of $182.95 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.24%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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).