Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 9,042 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 186,393 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 9,042 shares during the period. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Verus Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $309,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $951,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 8,332 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 857 shares during the last quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Finally, Gateway Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,377 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $375,000 after buying an additional 1,483 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.07 during trading on Friday, reaching $39.41. 45,176,702 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,944,896. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.88 billion, a PE ratio of 9.52, a PEG ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $40.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.57.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.88%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the company's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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).