Magnus Financial Group LLC Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Magnus Financial Group LLC cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,200 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,057 shares during the quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 25,612 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $966,000 after buying an additional 2,337 shares in the last quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,492,000. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,941 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares during the last quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,207,000. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 61,252 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,309,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Wolfe Research raised Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.1 %

VZ opened at $40.10 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.67. The company has a market cap of $168.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.96, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.63%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).