Cutler Investment Counsel LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cutler Investment Counsel LLC cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 260,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,356 shares during the quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Certified Advisory Corp grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 23,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. raised its position 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 during the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 10,961 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction 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 $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.30 on Friday, reaching $40.43. The company had a trading volume of 11,061,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,615,000. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company’s fifty day moving average is $40.54 and its 200 day moving average is $38.18. The company has a market cap of $169.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.50.

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).