One Wealth Capital Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

One Wealth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 7,904 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $316,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the third quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $44,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 762.6% in the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,061 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $48,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.7 %

VZ traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.94. The company had a trading volume of 23,273,343 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,428,605. The company has a market capitalization of $163.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $41.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.56 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.96%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).