Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC Makes New $283,000 Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,087 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $283,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. EdgeRock Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC now owns 5,224 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,691 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 7,666 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $584,000 after buying an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $253,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE VZ opened at $43.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $39.95 and its 200-day moving average is $41.65. 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 one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. This trade represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have 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 currently owned by company 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).