Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Sells 980 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. cut its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 55,659 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 980 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Americana Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 294.8% in the fourth quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 376,312 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,049,000 after purchasing an additional 281,005 shares during the period. Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 26.1% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 31,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 6,562 shares during the period. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $54,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,072 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $723,000 after acquiring an additional 609 shares during the period. Finally, MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $589,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.00 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.57. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $172.59 billion, a PE ratio of 9.90, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 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.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.61%. Verizon Communications’s 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 dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).