Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Soltis Investment Advisors LLC

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 155,006 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 20,454 shares during the quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,199,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,892,000 after acquiring an additional 48,294 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.7% in the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,095,000 after buying an additional 17,855 shares during the period. Burney Co. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after buying an additional 43,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after buying an additional 1,026,930 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on VZ. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, 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 target price on the stock. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.88 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $167.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.55.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted 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 business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 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).