Sandhill Capital Partners LLC Sells 12,483 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,073 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 12,483 shares during the quarter. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 18,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 3,079 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 36,960 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,198,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 107,530 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,485,000 after purchasing an additional 3,484 shares in the last quarter. Alta Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alta Capital Management LLC now owns 96,496 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,127,000 after acquiring an additional 5,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 54,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,699,000 after acquiring an additional 8,465 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on VZ. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.7 %

VZ traded down $0.27 during trading on Thursday, hitting $39.22. 16,589,142 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,183,934. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.45. The firm has a market cap of $164.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.78%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).