Truist Financial Corp Reduces Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Truist Financial Corp lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,417,969 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 557,337 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $91,157,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research raised Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of VZ traded up $0.46 during trading on Friday, reaching $39.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,246,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,678,804. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $166.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.51.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Company 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).