PFS Partners LLC Cuts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

PFS Partners LLC cut its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,527 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,372 shares during the quarter. PFS Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Newton One Investments LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 30,383 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 696.8% in the 4th quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. now owns 9,394 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 8,215 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 54.9% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 11,388 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 4,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verity Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,083 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

VZ stock opened at $40.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.57. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $168.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. This trade represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).