Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Sells 4,511 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 32.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,431 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,511 shares during the quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $356,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 24.9% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 10,961 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Western Financial Corp CA boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 16,564 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $624,000 after buying an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $38.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $162.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $40.53 and its 200-day moving average is $38.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

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).