First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Sells 3,277 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,203 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,277 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas now owns 23,486 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $939,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares during the last quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 124,716 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,987,000 after purchasing an additional 6,945 shares during the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 27,401 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 5,818 shares during the last quarter. Stewardship Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Stewardship Advisors LLC now owns 6,472 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advocate Group LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 252,157 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $10,084,000 after purchasing an additional 9,554 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $39.54 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. 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 $166.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.43.

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).