1620 Investment Advisors Inc. Has $1.01 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

1620 Investment Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,257 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,461 shares during the quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,010,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $387,000. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC now owns 6,487 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 636 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 261,250 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,447,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296 shares in the last quarter. Loudon Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Loudon Investment Management LLC now owns 48,927 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,957,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goodman Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Goodman Financial Corp now owns 304,506 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,177,000 after acquiring an additional 10,529 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.74 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $41.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.57, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.20%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).