Dock Street Asset Management Inc. Has $228,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Dock Street Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,054 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 403 shares during the period. Dock Street Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $228,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Certified Advisory Corp raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 23,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the period. Pacifica Partners Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $374,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 10,961 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $39.87. 6,595,460 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,544,525. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.17. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The stock has a market cap of $167.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications 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 in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).