Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC Sells 15,108 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC decreased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 41.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,962 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 15,108 shares during the period. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after purchasing an additional 78,995,341 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $1,829,675,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after buying an additional 11,987,691 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 175,039,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,509,733,000 after acquiring an additional 8,171,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 81.3% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,604,493 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $540,193,000 after buying an additional 4,756,222 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $41.95. The stock had a trading volume of 19,763,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,343,715. The stock has a market cap of $176.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.34.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 96.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.86.

About Verizon Communications

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).