Community Bank N.A. Has $8.28 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Community Bank N.A. lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 207,176 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,344 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up approximately 1.1% of Community Bank N.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Community Bank N.A.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Napatree Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Napatree Capital LLC now owns 5,819 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 478 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 179.3% in the 4th quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 28,875 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,155,000 after buying an additional 18,537 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 7,896,150 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $315,767,000 after buying an additional 407,978 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $362,000. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 14,691 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $592,000 after buying an additional 1,801 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.53.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $44.06 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $185.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.64, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $41.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.00. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.15%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).