Davidson Trust Co. Has $548,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Davidson Trust Co. boosted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,703 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Davidson Trust Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $548,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 79,600 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,183,000 after acquiring an additional 4,418 shares during the last quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 156,957 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,277,000 after acquiring an additional 3,142 shares during the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 931,695 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $37,258,000 after acquiring an additional 11,002 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 36,619 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,464,000 after buying an additional 2,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens & Northern Corp raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp now owns 16,052 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $642,000 after buying an additional 2,981 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $41.00 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.94 and a 200-day moving average of $41.58. The company has a market capitalization of $172.59 billion, a PE ratio of 9.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.61%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).