Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Sells 1,462 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,509 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,462 shares during the period. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.1% during the 4th quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,797 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,304 shares in the last quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,141 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 43,953 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,758,000 after purchasing an additional 3,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MADDEN SECURITIES Corp increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. MADDEN SECURITIES Corp now owns 55,556 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,846 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $44.12 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $43.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.02 billion, a PE ratio of 10.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

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 $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.14%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

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).