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

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. reduced its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related 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 transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Barclays increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $1.09 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 25,970,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,270,385. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The company has a market capitalization of $166.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.38%.

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).