Latitude Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Latitude Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,788 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 282 shares during the quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $558,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC now owns 122,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,619,000 after acquiring an additional 25,382 shares during the period. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $835,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 120,235 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,963,000 after purchasing an additional 14,754 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,170,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $81,830,000 after buying an additional 14,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 142,640 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,378,000 after buying an additional 27,950 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.77. The company had a trading volume of 14,016,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,262,630. The firm has a market cap of $167.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.16. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.38%.

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).