Sierra Summit Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sierra Summit Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,273 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 266 shares during the quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.0% in the third quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 70,824 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,181,000 after buying an additional 11,315 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,352,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,440,247 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $64,681,000 after acquiring an additional 12,580 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its position in Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the third quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 375,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,881,000 after acquiring an additional 9,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.7% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 98,201 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value 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 trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.55 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $179.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.28, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $42.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.08. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. 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 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 previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.82.

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).