FourThought Financial Partners LLC Sells 310 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC lessened its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,401 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 310 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,016,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,892,000 after purchasing an additional 48,294 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,376,000. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,303,000 after buying an additional 6,795 shares during the period. Burney Co. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after acquiring an additional 43,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $43.31 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.65. The company has a market cap of $182.31 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. 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 announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.26%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Ten 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).