Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. Sells 6,297 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 19.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 26,877 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 6,297 shares during the quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,219,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Norges Bank bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $357,398,000 after acquiring an additional 8,695,736 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,346,682,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421,148 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Verizon Communications by 52.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $792,937,000 after acquiring an additional 6,846,514 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.70 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $43.32 and its 200 day moving average is $42.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.50%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Company 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).