Selective Wealth Management Inc. Sells 2,405 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Selective Wealth Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 27.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,298 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,405 shares during the period. Selective Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $241,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $2,015,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 10.4% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 307,514 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,682,000 after buying an additional 29,082 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.3% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 36,830 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,519,000 after buying an additional 3,731 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 152,304 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,281,000 after buying an additional 24,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC now owns 90,644 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,738,000 after acquiring an additional 5,235 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $38.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $163.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $41.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.71.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.97%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.54.

About Verizon Communications

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).