Uncommon Cents Investing LLC Has $1.59 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Uncommon Cents Investing LLC cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 42,191 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 969 shares during the period. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. CGC Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. HBC Financial Services PLLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. RVW Wealth LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 58.4% in the 4th quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.86.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $41.95 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $40.57 and its 200-day moving average is $37.34. The company has a market capitalization of $176.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 96.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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).