Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC

KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 27.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 97,958 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 37,442 shares during the period. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 6,795 shares during the period. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $381,000. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,333,000. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,394,921 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $55,783,000 after purchasing an additional 547,384 shares during the period. Finally, 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 valued at $50,393,000 after purchasing an additional 76,083 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the firm'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 owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,071.04. This trade represents a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 report on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.52 on Friday, hitting $43.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,130,617 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,069,001. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36. The company has a market capitalization of $184.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.44 and a 200-day moving average of $42.28.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

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).