Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Sweet Financial Partners LLC

Sweet Financial Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,192 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 320 shares during the period. Sweet Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Certified Advisory Corp boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the first quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 23,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,187,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.3% in the third quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 12,558 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $407,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salvus Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,265 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $990,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. Barclays boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective 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 upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.86.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.37 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.21. The stock has a market cap of $169.73 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.44 and its 200-day moving average is $37.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.59%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Company 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).