WASHINGTON TRUST Co Cuts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 219,164 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 10,257 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Certified Advisory Corp raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in 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 valued at $407,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.86.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.53 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $41.38. 10,343,205 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,199,145. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $40.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.26. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $173.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.43%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is 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).