Hemington Wealth Management Has $183,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 21.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,585 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 817 shares during the quarter. Hemington Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $183,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $216,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at about $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $217,087,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 77.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $274,052,000 after buying an additional 2,656,396 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.52 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.56.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased 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. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

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).