Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 5,665 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 5,665 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 19.8% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 18,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 3,079 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 80.5% in the third quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 21,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $742,000 after acquiring an additional 9,441 shares during the period. Sweet Financial Partners LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 111.6% in the third quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC now owns 12,512 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 6,598 shares in the last quarter. Edmp Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 17.3% during the third quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 34,014 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 5,020 shares during the period. Finally, Litman Gregory Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $596,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ opened at $40.02 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $168.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.67. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.65%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).