MONECO Advisors LLC Sells 9,348 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

MONECO Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 16.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 49,219 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 9,348 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VZ. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $78,975,000 after purchasing an additional 644,761 shares during the period. Alpha Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $224,000. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $232,389,000 after acquiring an additional 39,403 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 22,340 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $958,000 after acquiring an additional 3,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $898,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on VZ. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Ten research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of VZ opened at $42.77 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $180.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $39.91 and a 200 day moving average of $41.62. 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 released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share 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 earned $1.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.34%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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).