Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. Has $105,000 Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,796 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 374 shares during the quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.19 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $40.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.96 billion, a PE ratio of 14.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.79%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.02% 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).