V2 Financial group LLC Sells 528 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

V2 Financial group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 94,499 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 528 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up approximately 2.3% of V2 Financial group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. V2 Financial group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised 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 worth $78,975,000 after buying an additional 644,761 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $224,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 360.1% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 34,227 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,537,000 after purchasing an additional 26,788 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 8.7% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 6,905 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. Finally, Shore Point Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Shore Point Advisors LLC now owns 9,131 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $39.88 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $167.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.55. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued 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 return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Verizon Communications Profile

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).