RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $201,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,023 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 77.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $274,052,000 after purchasing an additional 2,656,396 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 34.6% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 115,401 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,190,000 after buying an additional 29,663 shares during the period. Rench Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.1% during the third quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 102,868 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,065 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,856,315 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $83,367,000 after buying an additional 19,899 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 74.2% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,012 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $44.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.34 billion, a PE ratio of 10.81, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).