First Horizon Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 814,388 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 14,528 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up approximately 1.0% of First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $30,702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after buying an additional 930,367 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after buying an additional 4,527,387 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,446,194,000 after buying an additional 2,015,139 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $920,455,000 after buying an additional 4,134,150 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,261,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $300,175,000 after buying an additional 1,385,957 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.9 %

VZ stock traded down $0.37 during trading on Thursday, reaching $38.83. 6,124,023 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,961,010. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.74. The company has a market capitalization of $163.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.85%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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).