Tyche Wealth Partners LLC Sells 14,128 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Tyche Wealth Partners LLC cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 42.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,781 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 14,128 shares during the period. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $50,393,000 after purchasing an additional 76,083 shares during the period. Axis Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $1,200,000. Rempart Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.8% in the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $14,079,000 after purchasing an additional 107,200 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 2,075,431 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $82,996,000 after acquiring an additional 20,610 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the company'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 transaction of $329,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $834,071.04. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.66 on Wednesday. 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 market capitalization of $179.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.16, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.38. The company's 50-day moving average is $43.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 6.35%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Nine 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Company 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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