Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. Sells 865 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 13,370 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 865 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.0% in the 1st quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 71.8% during the first quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 114.6% during the fourth quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,071.04. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.7%

VZ stock opened at $42.66 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $43.25 and its 200 day moving average is $42.21. The stock has a market cap of $179.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.35%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

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).