First United Bank & Trust Sells 1,274 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

First United Bank & Trust lowered its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,191 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,274 shares during the quarter. First United Bank & Trust’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Profund Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 48,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,990,000 after acquiring an additional 3,412 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 679,435 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $28,020,000 after purchasing an additional 56,534 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.6% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,077 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,517 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at about $1,334,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 74.5% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 162,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,698,000 after purchasing an additional 69,328 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $163.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company’s fifty day moving average is $41.03 and its 200 day moving average is $41.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

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).