Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC

Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 17,478 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,808 shares during the period. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. TCG Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. TCG Advisory Services LLC now owns 18,983 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $716,000 after purchasing an additional 2,880 shares during the period. Claris Advisors LLC MO acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $221,000. AJOVista LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $178,000. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 369,936 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $13,947,000 after buying an additional 8,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 8,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 1,687 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective 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 boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.7 %

VZ traded up $0.29 during trading on Monday, reaching $39.18. 5,342,709 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,845,281. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The stock has a market cap of $164.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released 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 net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.79%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 99.25%.

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).