Element Wealth LLC Makes New $292,000 Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Element Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,756 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after acquiring an additional 4,134,150 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $133,491,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3,782.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,974,813 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $149,850,000 after acquiring an additional 3,872,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 104.0% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,302,051 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $171,839,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ traded up $1.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $39.70. 24,345,294 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,262,342. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $40.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company 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).