Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC Sells 16,518 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 50.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,465 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 16,518 shares during the period. Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $658,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.1% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 679,435 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $28,020,000 after buying an additional 56,534 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,077 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,517 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 74.5% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 162,405 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,698,000 after acquiring an additional 69,328 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.0% in the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 23,122 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $954,000 after purchasing an additional 1,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resources Management Corp CT ADV increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the second quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 80,287 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,311,000 after purchasing an additional 2,149 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $39.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $41.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

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).