Sheets Smith Wealth Management Has $554,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,682 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,264 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after acquiring an additional 4,134,150 shares during the period. Comerica Bank bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $133,491,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3,782.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,974,813 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $149,850,000 after purchasing an additional 3,872,434 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 104.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,302,051 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $171,839,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,197 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.33 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $39.22. 7,420,666 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,870,127. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.09 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).