Austin Private Wealth LLC Sells 291 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Austin Private Wealth LLC cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 291 shares during the quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 173.7% in the third quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $21,137,000 after buying an additional 413,869 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 3,020 shares in the last quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth about $306,000. Finally, Regal Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.1% during the third quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 183,615 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,951,000 after purchasing an additional 35,675 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.86.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.0 %

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $41.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,763,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,343,715. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.34. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is 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).