Peddock Capital Advisors LLC Sells 4,364 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Peddock Capital Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,022 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,364 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 3,233.3% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.47. 6,343,288 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,695,973. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.01. The firm has a market cap of $166.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.74%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Barclays increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

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).