Trust Co. of Vermont Has $4.84 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Trust Co. of Vermont trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 106,731 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 5,369 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,841,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 16,704 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 27,523 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 14,710 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $588,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 28,485 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,139,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $121,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note 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 target on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE VZ opened at $42.11 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.03, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. On average, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

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).