Sunbelt Securities Inc. Has $3.31 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 32.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 72,899 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 35,077 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crescent Sterling Ltd. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. now owns 30,906 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,402,000 after buying an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 81.0% in the first quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 71.8% in the first quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 18,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $735,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CRA Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.7% during the first quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 6,913 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $834,071.04. The trade was 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 through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $42.32 on Friday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $43.15 and a 200-day moving average of $42.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.08, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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).

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