RNC Capital Management LLC Sells 5,570 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

RNC Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 44,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 5,570 shares during the period. RNC Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. CGC Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. HBC Financial Services PLLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. RVW Wealth LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 58.4% in the 4th quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $41.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.31. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.21. The company has a market cap of $174.65 billion, a PE ratio of 15.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.40.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.40%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.38%.

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).