Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC Invests $687,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 18,219 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $687,000. Verizon Communications comprises 0.4% of Eagle Wealth Strategies LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its position in Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 3,233.3% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. Raymond James raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $39.71 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The firm has a market cap of $167.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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).