1900 Wealth Management LLC Sells 588 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

1900 Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,601 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 588 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $211,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC grew its position 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 valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $39.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.52 and a 200 day moving average of $38.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.71. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).