Annex Advisory Services LLC Sells 30,917 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Annex Advisory Services LLC lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 24.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 94,593 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 30,917 shares during the quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 114.6% in the fourth quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $834,071.04. This trade represents a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.2%

VZ traded up $0.52 during trading on Friday, reaching $43.82. 10,130,617 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,069,001. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.76 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The company's fifty day moving average price is $43.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.28.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

About Verizon Communications

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).