Kiley Juergens Wealth Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Kiley Juergens Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,187 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,346 shares during the quarter. Kiley Juergens Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $686,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. RVW Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 58.4% in the 4th quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.34 on Tuesday, reaching $39.78. 14,015,964 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,711,529. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.10. The firm has a market cap of $167.22 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 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.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.38%.

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).