Atlantic Family Wealth LLC Acquires Shares of 9,027 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Atlantic Family Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 9,027 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $361,000. Verizon Communications accounts for 0.4% of Atlantic Family Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 655.5% in the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $42.77 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one 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. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 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 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. 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 (DPR) is 65.46%.

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).