Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Leisure Capital Management

Leisure Capital Management cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 81.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,659 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 33,558 shares during the period. Leisure Capital Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $289,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 18,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 3,079 shares during the last quarter. SOL Capital Management CO grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. SOL Capital Management CO now owns 11,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the period. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,642 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 8,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 1,802 shares during the period. Finally, Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC now owns 68,892 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $39.68. 18,246,244 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,678,804. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The stock has a market cap 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.51. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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

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).