SlateStone Wealth LLC Sells 4,969 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

SlateStone Wealth LLC reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 55,433 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,969 shares during the quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,090,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,387 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,446,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,015,139 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $920,455,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134,150 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,261,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $300,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385,957 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.67 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,910,877 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,040,631. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.09 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.44. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.82%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications 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).