Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC Sells 1,881 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 26.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,265 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,881 shares during the period. Adamsbrown Wealth Consultants LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 16,704 shares during the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 9,450 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 2,387 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 8,419 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.26 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.27. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.41 billion, a PE ratio of 10.45, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

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).