Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Sells 1,795 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,062 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,795 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 18,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 3,079 shares in the last quarter. SOL Capital Management CO raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. SOL Capital Management CO now owns 11,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the period. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,642 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 26,857 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $870,000 after buying an additional 1,386 shares during the period. Finally, FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 30,040 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $974,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on VZ. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other 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 value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.5 %

NYSE VZ traded down $0.60 on Tuesday, reaching $39.49. 20,216,529 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,158,723. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The company has a market cap of $166.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.74, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.74%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).