Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Purchases 10,569 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 508,127 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,569 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $19,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.5 %

VZ stock traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.49. The company had a trading volume of 15,942,031 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,223,914. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $166.03 billion, a PE ratio of 14.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $40.51 and a 200 day moving average of $38.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.03% 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).