Demars Financial Group LLC Sells 4,070 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Demars Financial Group LLC decreased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,853 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,070 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up 0.4% of Demars Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Demars Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $673,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 24.9% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 10,961 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Western Financial Corp CA increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 16,564 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $624,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of VZ opened at $39.72 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $166.99 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.52 and a 200 day moving average of $38.44. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).