Winebrenner Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 15,620 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Winebrenner Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 15,620 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $625,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,892,000 after purchasing an additional 48,294 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,376,000. Burney Co. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after buying an additional 43,472 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,503,000 after buying an additional 1,026,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,333,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $42.77 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $180.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.45. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.61. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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 in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Company 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).