Cape Investment Advisory Inc. Trims Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cape Investment Advisory Inc. decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,266 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 566 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 655.5% in the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.4 %

VZ opened at $43.12 on Friday. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $40.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.71. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $181.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.29%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).