Sandbox Financial Partners LLC Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 15,516 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,263 shares during the quarter. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $620,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 307,514 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,682,000 after buying an additional 29,082 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 11.3% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 36,830 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,519,000 after acquiring an additional 3,731 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 18.7% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 152,304 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 24,016 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 60.9% during the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,272 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,197,000 after acquiring an additional 20,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Research & Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Research & Management Inc. now owns 100,241 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,345 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.4 %

VZ stock opened at $38.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

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).