WealthShield Partners LLC Sells 581 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

WealthShield Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 74,624 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 581 shares during the quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 25,750 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 5,743 shares during the last quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 16,863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $674,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,303,000 after purchasing an additional 6,795 shares during the last quarter. Genesis Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $210,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,915 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price 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 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE VZ opened at $42.77 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.33, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $39.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. 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 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

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