VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. Trims Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,484 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 263 shares during the period. Verizon Communications accounts for approximately 0.5% of VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $779,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 655.5% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $40.14 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.99 billion, a PE ratio of 9.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.54. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.75%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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).