OMC Financial Services LTD Sells 4,932 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

OMC Financial Services LTD lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 27.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,248 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,932 shares during the period. OMC Financial Services LTD’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 20,407 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $816,000 after purchasing an additional 3,880 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 336,043 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $13,438,000 after purchasing an additional 27,138 shares during the period. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 154,859 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,193,000 after purchasing an additional 2,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howland Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 11,735 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $469,000 after buying an additional 877 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.88 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $40.18 and its 200 day moving average is $41.55. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $167.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

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).