New Century Financial Group LLC Sells 27,103 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

New Century Financial Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 70.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 27,103 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 16,704 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Verizon Communications by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,676,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $67,060,000 after purchasing an additional 186,176 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 25,579 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 1,774 shares in the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,621,000. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 961.3% during the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 185,724 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,427,000 after purchasing an additional 168,224 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $42.96 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The stock has a market cap of $181.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.43 and its 200 day moving average is $42.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.31%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,071.04. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Company 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).