Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 13.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 44,666 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 6,668 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $39.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,246,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,678,804. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.51. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).