Horan Capital Advisors LLC. Cuts Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Horan Capital Advisors LLC. decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 90,896 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,562 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up approximately 1.3% of Horan Capital Advisors LLC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Horan Capital Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,511 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 1,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 10,961 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Western Financial Corp CA increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 16,564 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $624,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays increased their target price 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, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $38.89. 13,160,129 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,017,807. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.74. The stock has a market cap of $163.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.84%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).