PFS Partners LLC Sells 1,372 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

PFS Partners LLC decreased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,527 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,372 shares during the period. PFS Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.00 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $168.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.61 and a 200 day moving average of $41.57. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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).