Arlington Trust Co LLC Trims Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Arlington Trust Co LLC cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 50.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,498 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,536 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.0% during the first quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 71.8% in the 1st quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 114.6% during the 4th quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. 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. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.25.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.14 on Wednesday, hitting $43.82. 3,846,263 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,059,174. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.74 billion, a PE ratio of 10.45, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $43.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.23. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by 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).