Leisure Capital Management Has $289,000 Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Leisure Capital Management cut its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 81.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,659 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 33,558 shares during the period. Leisure Capital Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 61,252 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,309,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the period. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $1,179,000. Terril Brothers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 86.6% during the 4th quarter. Terril Brothers Inc. now owns 581,339 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $21,916,000 after buying an additional 269,845 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $1,104,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 72,957 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,750,000 after buying an additional 2,621 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE VZ traded up $0.46 on Friday, hitting $39.68. 18,246,244 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,678,804. The company has a market cap of $166.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.46 and a 200-day moving average of $38.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on VZ. Citigroup boosted their price objective 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. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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).