Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC

Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC lessened its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 25.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,425 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,192 shares during the period. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $497,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,081,241 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after purchasing an additional 565,842 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $815,636,000 after purchasing an additional 502,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 12,493,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $561,105,000 after purchasing an additional 46,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $39.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $167.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $40.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).