Synergy Asset Management LLC Sells 18,223 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Synergy Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 17.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 87,317 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 18,223 shares during the quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Altrius Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the first quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 113,900 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $5,167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296 shares during the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.7% during the first quarter. Crews Bank & Trust now owns 14,590 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $662,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the period. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.1% during the first quarter. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 237,443 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $10,770,000 after buying an additional 23,690 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.3% during the first quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 9,263 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $420,000 after buying an additional 1,160 shares during the period. Finally, TT Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 57.6% during the first quarter. TT Capital Management LLC now owns 45,999 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $2,087,000 after buying an additional 16,818 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value 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. The trade was a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $41.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $175.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.32 and a 200 day moving average of $42.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. On average, 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).

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