Sowell Financial Services LLC Has $5.13 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sowell Financial Services LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 19.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 128,291 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 30,203 shares during the quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,892,000 after purchasing an additional 48,294 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,303,000 after purchasing an additional 6,795 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,376,000. Burney Co. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after buying an additional 43,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,503,000 after buying an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $46.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.83. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $46.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.87%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

About Verizon Communications

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).