Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stake Lowered by Graypoint LLC

Graypoint LLC reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,983 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,670 shares during the quarter. Graypoint LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 174.0% during the 1st quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,675,000 after acquiring an additional 58,283 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $60,828,000 after acquiring an additional 113,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $567,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Wolfe Research raised Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ traded down $0.44 on Friday, hitting $39.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 21,554,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,917,470. The company has a market capitalization of $166.99 billion, a PE ratio of 14.39, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. 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 50 day moving average price of $40.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.98.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).