Home Federal Bank of Tennessee Sells 275 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Home Federal Bank of Tennessee trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,790 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 275 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up about 0.5% of Home Federal Bank of Tennessee’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CGC Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the second quarter worth $32,000. HBC Financial Services PLLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. RVW Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 58.4% during the fourth quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. 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. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.86.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $41.96. The stock had a trading volume of 19,771,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,609,096. The company has a market capitalization of $176.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share 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 dividend yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.38%.

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).