Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. Decreases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,633 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 530 shares during the quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Bancorp Inc ME lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 17,979 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $754,000 after buying an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $504,000 after buying an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 22,649 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $950,000 after buying an additional 1,996 shares in the last quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, Community Bank of Raymore raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Community Bank of Raymore now owns 6,609 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on VZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.77.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $41.02. The stock had a trading volume of 17,280,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,874,834. The firm has a market cap of $172.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.31, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.02 and a 200-day moving average of $39.98.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

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).