Home Federal Bank of Tennessee Lowers Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Home Federal Bank of Tennessee decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 30,824 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,135 shares during the period. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 58.0% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $78,975,000 after buying an additional 644,761 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 857,524 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,511,000 after buying an additional 55,411 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 58,804 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after purchasing an additional 10,183 shares during the period. Alpha Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 42.3% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 60,403 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,713,000 after buying an additional 17,949 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $39.41 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $165.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.88%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.46%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).