Sky Investment Group LLC Sells 12,599 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sky Investment Group LLC lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 20.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,115 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 12,599 shares during the quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at $3,376,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,521 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,095,000 after acquiring an additional 17,855 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after purchasing an additional 43,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,058,443 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $92,445,000 after purchasing an additional 57,583 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.86 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

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).