Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by MONECO Advisors LLC

MONECO Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,434 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,626 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $959,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 33,161 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,074 shares during the period. WealthTrust Axiom LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,479,000 after purchasing an additional 2,422 shares during the period. Certuity LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 1,804.3% during the 4th quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 221,339 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,344,000 after purchasing an additional 209,716 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 18,479 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 818,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $30,870,000 after purchasing an additional 99,403 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on VZ. Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $166.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.74. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

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).