Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc Sells 368 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,653 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 368 shares during the period. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 233.7% during the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 808,899 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $36,692,000 after acquiring an additional 566,510 shares during the period. Harrington Investments INC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.1% during the first quarter. Harrington Investments INC now owns 42,244 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,664 shares during the period. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the first quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 105,976 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,807,000 after buying an additional 1,380 shares in the last quarter. First National Corp MA ADV boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. First National Corp MA ADV now owns 9,598 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verum Partners LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 15,303 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at $834,071.04. The trade was a 28.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE:VZ opened at $43.82 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $43.44 and a 200 day moving average of $42.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. On average, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

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).