Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY Cuts Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY reduced its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,339 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,172 shares during the period. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,784,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 114.6% during the fourth quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $43.92 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.18 billion, a PE ratio of 10.61, a PEG 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. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

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).