Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by TCI Wealth Advisors Inc.

TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 24,153 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 380 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $911,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $34,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $38.89. 13,195,563 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,003,748. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.90. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The stock has a market cap of $163.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.84%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays raised 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

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).