Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by SOA Wealth Advisors LLC.

SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. trimmed its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,115 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,239 shares during the quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NCM Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 18,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $735,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 10,968 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,915 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 10,483 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, Campbell Wealth Management lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Campbell Wealth Management now owns 5,732 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,550,859.84. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.82 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36. The company has a market cap of $184.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

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).