Opal Wealth Advisors LLC Has $388,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Opal Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 76.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,691 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 4,201 shares during the quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $181,000. MBA Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. MBA Advisors LLC now owns 15,781 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,797 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,304 shares during the period. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 20,407 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 3,880 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $39.88 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.55. The firm has a market cap of $167.86 billion, a PE ratio of 9.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).