Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas Sells 10,220 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 76,754 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 10,220 shares during the quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,894,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.49 on Wednesday, reaching $39.21. 5,516,982 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,088,883. The firm has a market cap of $164.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.44. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).