Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Spirit of America Management Corp NY

Spirit of America Management Corp NY cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,040 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Stratos Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 33.8% in the 4th quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 9,450 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 2,387 shares during the last quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC now owns 113,557 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,541,000 after acquiring an additional 1,767 shares during the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 6,895 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Old North State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC now owns 41,619 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,666,000 after acquiring an additional 6,641 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. This trade represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ opened at $39.83 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.65 billion, a PE ratio of 9.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.80%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

Verizon Communications 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).