Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC Acquires 11,254 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 49.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,234 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 11,254 shares during the quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Capital Corp MA ADV acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $328,000. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 55,837 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $2,233,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194 shares in the last quarter. Lakeside Advisors INC. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Lakeside Advisors INC. now owns 5,485 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $219,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the period. ING Groep NV lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 145.6% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 2,023,591 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $80,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 310,705 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $12,425,000 after purchasing an additional 59,487 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on VZ. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $42.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 25,452,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,105,430. The firm's 50-day moving average is $39.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.59. The company has a market cap of $180.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.33, a PEG ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% 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).