Montag A & Associates Inc. Cuts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Montag A & Associates Inc. cut its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 74,537 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 5,293 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 5,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $223,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Selective Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.8% in 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 lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.9% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 10,961 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Western Financial Corp CA increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.7% during 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 during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective 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. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 accessible through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $39.80. The stock had a trading volume of 12,878,403 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,660,254. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.51 billion, a PE ratio of 14.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.68%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).