Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by AIFG Consultants Ltd.

AIFG Consultants Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 25.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,057 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,363 shares during the period. AIFG Consultants Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 76.4% in the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 14,717 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 6,372 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 594,918 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $22,428,000 after buying an additional 39,530 shares in the last quarter. Tiller Private Wealth Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Tiller Private Wealth Inc. now owns 8,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223 shares during the last quarter. Flynn Zito Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, Cambridge Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 43,742 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,649,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.14 during trading on Friday, reaching $40.27. 5,506,336 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,542,631. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $40.54 and its 200 day moving average is $38.18. The firm has a market cap of $169.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

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).