Colonial River Investments LLC Sells 3,508 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Colonial River Investments LLC lessened its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 45,613 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,508 shares during the period. Colonial River Investments LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 655.5% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten 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 MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $42.77 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

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).