Thomasville National Bank Sells 1,507 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Thomasville National Bank trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,467 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,507 shares during the quarter. Thomasville National Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at about $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 17,855 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $92,445,000 after purchasing an additional 57,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.18 during trading on Monday, reaching $37.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,343,230 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,889,336. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $159.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.38, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $41.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.13%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several research reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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).