Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 82,306 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 56.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,439 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 82,306 shares during the quarter. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WealthTrust Axiom LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 118,806 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,479,000 after acquiring an additional 2,422 shares in the last quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 173.7% in the 3rd quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $21,137,000 after acquiring an additional 413,869 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,131,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 3,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GFS Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $212,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $38.95. 7,998,526 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,984,047. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $163.95 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.40 and a 200-day moving average of $38.74. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities 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 was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.83%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

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).