Centerpoint Advisors LLC Sells 647 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Centerpoint Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,555 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 647 shares during the period. Centerpoint Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after buying an additional 2,081,241 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after buying an additional 565,842 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $815,636,000 after buying an additional 502,949 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 12,493,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $561,105,000 after acquiring an additional 46,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $41.00 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.58. The firm has a market cap of $172.59 billion, a PE ratio of 9.90, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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).