McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. Acquires 584 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,125 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. BCK Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at about $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% during the first quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 487 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 174.0% during the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,675,000 after buying an additional 58,283 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.5% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $60,828,000 after buying an additional 113,032 shares during the period. Finally, First Western Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at about $567,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.86.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.41 on Thursday, reaching $41.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,763,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,343,715. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.34. The company has a market cap of $176.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

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).