Ethos Financial Group LLC Sells 9,903 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Ethos Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 52.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,987 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 9,903 shares during the period. Ethos Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th 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 valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $39.80. 12,878,403 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,660,254. The company’s 50-day moving average is $40.29 and its 200 day moving average is $39.01. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.51 billion, a PE ratio of 14.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 99.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

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).