Bank of Jackson Hole Trust Takes Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,661 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,450 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. First Personal Financial Services lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the third quarter. First Personal Financial Services now owns 91,092 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $4,091,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the third quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,505 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Finally, First Dallas Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the third quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 31,728 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company's stock, valued at $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $42.77. The company had a trading volume of 25,452,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,105,430. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $39.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.59. The company has a market capitalization of $180.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.08.

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).