Main Street Group LTD Sells 4,361 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Main Street Group LTD trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 39.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,668 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,361 shares during the period. Main Street Group LTD’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 10,968 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. JB Capital LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 20,816 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $832,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. Curbstone Financial Management Corp boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 34,786 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,915 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 10,483 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,550,859.84. This represents a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,376,300 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VZ. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $42.62 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $43.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The firm has a market cap of $179.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.29, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

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).