New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

by · The Markets Daily

New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 857 shares during the period. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $50,393,000 after acquiring an additional 76,083 shares during the period. Axis Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,200,000. Rempart Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 52.8% in the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,079,000 after acquiring an additional 107,200 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 2,075,431 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $82,996,000 after buying an additional 20,610 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on VZ shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

View Our Latest Report on Verizon Communications

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $834,071.04. The trade was a 28.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $42.32 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.21. The firm has a market cap of $178.42 billion, a PE ratio of 10.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.40%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

(Free Report)

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).

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