Avestar Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Avestar Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,579 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,774 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,450 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.4% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 17,491 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $786,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. First Personal Financial Services grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Personal Financial Services now owns 91,092 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,091,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Finally, Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,505 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $562,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.06 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $39.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.56. The firm has a market cap of $172.86 billion, a PE ratio of 9.92, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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).