Darwin Wealth Management LLC Has $368,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Darwin Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,754 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 387 shares during the quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing 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 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded 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 research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued 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 Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.32 on Thursday, hitting $39.80. 12,878,403 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,660,254. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The stock has a market cap of $167.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50 day moving average of $40.29 and a 200 day moving average of $39.01.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.68%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Company 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).