Mathes Company Inc. Sells 700 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Mathes Company Inc. cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,950 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Mathes Company Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,544,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its holdings 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 worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.8 %

VZ traded down $0.34 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.78. 14,011,240 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $40.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.10. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The stock has a market cap of $167.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid 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 payout ratio is 96.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

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).