Caitlin John LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Caitlin John LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,924 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,167 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications accounts for 1.2% of Caitlin John LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Caitlin John LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $906,000. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 19,954 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $798,000 after purchasing an additional 2,442 shares during the period. Trilogy Capital Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 5,506 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,636 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 40,440 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,617,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.14 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week 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 firm has a market capitalization of $168.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.70, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.54.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its 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 previous year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.75%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. UBS Group raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, DZ Bank raised 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, January 29th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

About Verizon Communications

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).