Sabal Trust CO Sells 17,860 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sabal Trust CO cut its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 724,143 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 17,860 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up about 1.7% of Sabal Trust CO’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Sabal Trust CO’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $28,958,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 655.5% during the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.73 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $184.07 billion, a PE ratio of 10.56, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $40.01 and its 200 day moving average is $41.67. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).