Cutler Investment Counsel LLC Has $9.97 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cutler Investment Counsel LLC decreased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 249,374 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 8,833 shares during the period. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,972,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 58.0% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $78,975,000 after purchasing an additional 644,761 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth about $224,000. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 861,988 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,712,000 after acquiring an additional 23,696 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $232,389,000 after acquiring an additional 39,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,840,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.00 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $39.94 and its 200-day moving average is $41.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.90, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted 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 company posted $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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).