Gries Financial LLC Acquires 478 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Gries Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 47,882 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the period. Gries Financial LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,892,000 after purchasing an additional 48,294 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after acquiring an additional 17,855 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,503,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026,930 shares during the period. Finally, Burney Co. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after acquiring an additional 43,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.25 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.61. The company has a market capitalization of $169.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

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).