Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC Trims Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,396 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 803 shares during the period. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HBC Financial Services PLLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, 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 research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ stock traded down $0.47 on Tuesday, hitting $39.65. The company had a trading volume of 18,324,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,342,398. The stock has a market cap of $166.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.71%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).