Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Fulton Bank N.A.

Fulton Bank N.A. cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 166,522 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 11,100 shares during the quarter. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,659,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after acquiring an additional 17,855 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.9% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $92,445,000 after purchasing an additional 57,583 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $38.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,465,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,372,945. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.56 and a one year high of $45.36. The business’s 50-day moving average is $41.47 and its 200-day moving average is $41.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $163.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.99%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.54.

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).