Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC Sells 2,653 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,440 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,653 shares during the period. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 42.9% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,121,951 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $68,772,000 after buying an additional 637,138 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the third quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 324,152 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,645 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.4% during the third quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 164,101 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,319,000 after acquiring an additional 14,083 shares in the last quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 37.0% during the third quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. now owns 3,889 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 25.3% during the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 152,458 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,941,000 after acquiring an additional 30,759 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James lifted their target price 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. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.2 %

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.56. 4,529,921 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,964,762. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its 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 the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).