Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Weatherly Asset Management L. P.

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 87,053 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 11,654 shares during the quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 10,961 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Western Financial Corp CA raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 16,564 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $624,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Verizon Communications Stock Up 2.8 %

NYSE VZ traded up $1.09 on Tuesday, reaching $39.69. The company had a trading volume of 25,970,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,270,385. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $40.53 and its 200-day moving average is $38.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on VZ shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James upped 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. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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).