Lyell Wealth Management LP Has $225,000 Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Lyell Wealth Management LP decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,977 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 384 shares during the period. Lyell Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 173.7% in the third quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $21,137,000 after purchasing an additional 413,869 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,131,000 after buying an additional 1,616 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,677,000 after buying an additional 3,020 shares during the last quarter. GFS Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. Finally, Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth about $306,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $39.26. 11,481,656 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,101,189. The company has a market capitalization of $165.06 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).