Wilson & Boucher Capital Management LLC Sells 2,005 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Wilson & Boucher Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,282 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,005 shares during the quarter. Wilson & Boucher Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1,351,680.0% during the 3rd quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 202,767 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $6,572,000 after purchasing an additional 202,752 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 0.5% during the third quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 177,323 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,747,000 after acquiring an additional 892 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 182,713 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,922,000 after acquiring an additional 2,579 shares during the last quarter. Sfmg LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 127,984 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,148,000 after acquiring an additional 9,321 shares during the period. Finally, Widmann Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Widmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 32,586 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,056,000 after acquiring an additional 4,305 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $39.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,419,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,358,114. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.47. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $167.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.83, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm’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 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Six investment 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, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.36.

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).