Ritholtz Wealth Management Sells 8,298 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Ritholtz Wealth Management decreased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 165,971 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 8,298 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth approximately $5,484,000. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 740.7% in the first quarter. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,240 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $2,823,000 after buying an additional 54,837 shares during the period. Grant Private Wealth Management Inc grew its position in Verizon Communications by 9.3% during the first quarter. Grant Private Wealth Management Inc now owns 20,387 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $925,000 after buying an additional 1,736 shares in the last quarter. Dover Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 24,788 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,124,000 after acquiring an additional 7,290 shares during the period. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 23.3% during the 1st quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 20,062 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $910,000 after acquiring an additional 3,793 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.61. 18,582,721 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,117,357. The company has a market cap of $175.46 billion, a PE ratio of 9.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.25.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.51%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

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).