Bath Savings Trust Co Sells 3,260 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Bath Savings Trust Co lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 26,893 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,260 shares during the period. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,220,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 16,704 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 39.2% during the fourth quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,750 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 2,463 shares during the period. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,377 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483 shares during the period. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 6,382 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Blueprint LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 37,748 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,510,000 after purchasing an additional 2,999 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.4%

VZ stock opened at $43.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $43.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.18.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $834,071.04. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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).