Salvus Wealth Management LLC Sells 4,797 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Salvus Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 35.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,751 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,797 shares during the quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 61,749 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,460 shares during the period. Cypress Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 20,001 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,914 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares in the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 25,346 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after buying an additional 1,298 shares during the period. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 244.1% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 1,115 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $38.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).