Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC Has $809,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,225 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,632 shares during the quarter. Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $809,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in Verizon Communications by 58.0% in 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 buying an additional 644,761 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its position in Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 857,524 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,511,000 after buying an additional 55,411 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 20.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 58,804 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after buying an additional 10,183 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $224,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co raised its position 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 valued at $2,713,000 after buying an additional 17,949 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Insider Activity

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

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.00 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company 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.

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 return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.78%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

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).