DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co Sells 895 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,118 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 895 shares during the quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 86,699 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,967 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 130,047 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,201,000 after purchasing an additional 2,742 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,019,000. TCW Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 255,966 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,236,000 after purchasing an additional 1,479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ST. Nicholas Private Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,434,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $42.77 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $180.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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 in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).