Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Has $899,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. cut its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 23,856 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,440 shares during the quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $899,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Naples Global Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 13,018 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 67,895 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,200,000 after buying an additional 3,241 shares in the last quarter. Advocate Group LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 196,826 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,379,000 after buying an additional 17,196 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 30,439 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $987,000 after buying an additional 1,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Piscataqua Savings Bank raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 12,812 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $1.09 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.69. The stock had a trading volume of 25,970,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,270,385. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $40.53 and its 200 day moving average is $38.38. 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 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The stock has a market cap of $166.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Wolfe Research raised shares of 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications 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).