Thomasville National Bank Lowers Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Thomasville National Bank cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,277 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,190 shares during the quarter. Thomasville National Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,095,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 114.6% during the 4th quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,550,859.84. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $43.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.85 billion, a PE ratio of 10.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.30.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

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).