Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp Has $748,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,830 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 423 shares during the quarter. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Certified Advisory Corp grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the first quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 23,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $374,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.9% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 10,961 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $40.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,170,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,708,980. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.17.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on VZ shares. KeyCorp upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

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).