Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Has $355,000 Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 31.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,421 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,226 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $355,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 320.0% in 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. RVW Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 58.4% in the fourth quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.72 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $40.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.05. The company has a market cap of $166.99 billion, a PE ratio of 14.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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).