Cypress Capital Management LLC WY Lowers Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cypress Capital Management LLC WY lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,860 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 410 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Management LLC WY’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $70,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Naviter Wealth LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 41,893 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,579,000 after buying an additional 8,896 shares during the period. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $214,000. Avaii Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Avaii Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,631 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the period. Choreo LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 50.1% during the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 111,958 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,221,000 after purchasing an additional 37,362 shares during the period. Finally, Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 27,747 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $40.11. 14,428,696 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,079,908. The company has a market capitalization of $168.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.14, a PEG ratio of 2.88 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 $40.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 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 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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 6.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).