Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Holdings Trimmed by San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC

San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 41.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,568 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 13,801 shares during the period. San Luis Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 16,704 shares during the last quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 18,853 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $754,000 after purchasing an additional 3,211 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 135,060 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $5,401,000 after purchasing an additional 12,001 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 125.8% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 325,052 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $12,661,000 after purchasing an additional 181,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $501,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of 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 research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI raised shares of 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. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.48 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $179.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.26, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The firm's 50-day moving average is $43.44 and its 200-day moving average is $42.25. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.38%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 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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