Stonebridge Financial Group LLC Invests $270,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,756 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Violich Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 177,087 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,082,000 after buying an additional 7,030 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 105,702 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,227,000 after acquiring an additional 16,349 shares in the last quarter. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp now owns 55,556 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,222,000 after acquiring an additional 2,846 shares during the last quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 43,953 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,758,000 after acquiring an additional 3,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Private Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,141 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred 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. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of VZ opened at $40.48 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $170.38 billion, a PE ratio of 9.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $40.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.56.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results 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 prior year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Ten equities 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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).