McAdam LLC Cuts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

McAdam LLC decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 23.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,014 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,681 shares during the period. McAdam LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.1 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.10 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market cap of $168.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.67. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.63%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications 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).