Citizens Business Bank Trims Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Citizens Business Bank trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 19.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 60,044 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 14,176 shares during the period. Citizens Business Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,264,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the 3rd quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.60 on Tuesday, hitting $39.49. 20,216,529 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,158,723. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.67.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

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).