Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,414 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,163 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stevens Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 179.3% in the 4th quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 28,875 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,155,000 after buying an additional 18,537 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 7,896,150 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $315,767,000 after acquiring an additional 407,978 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $362,000. Mosley Wealth Management increased its position in Verizon Communications by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 14,691 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 60.7% during the fourth quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 20,386 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $815,000 after acquiring an additional 7,702 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $44.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.00. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The firm has a market cap of $185.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.15%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.53.

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).