Penbrook Management LLC Lowers Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Penbrook Management LLC lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,921 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,250 shares during the quarter. Penbrook Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,117,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Synergy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 118.7% in the 4th quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 105,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,471,000 after acquiring an additional 57,275 shares in the last quarter. Gries Financial LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 47,882 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,915,000 after buying an additional 478 shares in the last quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 56.7% in the 4th quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC now owns 63,517 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,540,000 after purchasing an additional 22,988 shares in the last quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,548,000. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,377,922 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $215,063,000 after buying an additional 203,381 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $40.25 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $169.43 billion, a PE ratio of 17.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).