Sabal Trust CO Has $28.96 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sabal Trust CO lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 724,143 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 17,860 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up approximately 1.7% of Sabal Trust CO’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Sabal Trust CO’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $28,958,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,892,000 after purchasing an additional 48,294 shares during the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,303,000 after buying an additional 6,795 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,376,000. Burney Co. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after acquiring an additional 43,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $43.73 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $184.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.56, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.67.

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 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 firm posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.20%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).