ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 369,936 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,512 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises about 2.1% of ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $13,947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Provence Wealth Management Group boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 8,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 1,687 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 34,601 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,304,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $923,000. W Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. W Advisors LLC now owns 14,872 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 2,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 150,107 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,659,000 after purchasing an additional 30,553 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $38.89. 13,195,563 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,003,748. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.79. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The firm has a market cap of $163.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).