Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC Has $387,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,689 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 252 shares during the period. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 1,245,397 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $49,803,000 after purchasing an additional 154,789 shares in the last quarter. Gray Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Gray Wealth Management Inc. now owns 18,271 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $731,000 after buying an additional 557 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 41,601 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,664,000 after buying an additional 3,236 shares during the period. IMG Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $138,000. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 146,376 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,854,000 after buying an additional 5,207 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.67 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.82 billion, a PE ratio of 10.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.93. 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 $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by 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).