Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Position Cut by Blue Chip Partners LLC

Blue Chip Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 36.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,720 shares during the quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its stake 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 valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of VZ opened at $39.71 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $40.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid 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 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. 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 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).