Procyon Advisors LLC Sells 7,697 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Procyon Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 17.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,169 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 7,697 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Northstar Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC now owns 12,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 2,245 shares in the last quarter. Spring Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Spring Capital Management LLC now owns 74,453 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,807,000 after acquiring an additional 6,870 shares in the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $274,000. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 now owns 48,748 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,838,000 after purchasing an additional 5,664 shares during the period. Finally, Reitz Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. Reitz Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,545 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 2,090 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.18 during trading on Thursday, hitting $41.72. The company had a trading volume of 2,727,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,060,770. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.31. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.21.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.38%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research raised Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.86.

Verizon Communications 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).