Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Concord Wealth Partners

Concord Wealth Partners lessened its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,902 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,069 shares during the quarter. Concord Wealth Partners’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,233.3% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on VZ. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $39.19 on Thursday. 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 has a market capitalization of $164.96 billion, a PE ratio of 14.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.74. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.79%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

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).