AIFG Consultants Ltd. Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

AIFG Consultants Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 25.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,057 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,363 shares during the period. AIFG Consultants Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after buying an additional 930,367 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,387 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after purchasing an additional 78,995,341 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,678,273,000 after buying an additional 11,987,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,829,675,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.3 %

VZ traded up $0.14 during trading on Friday, reaching $40.27. The company had a trading volume of 5,506,336 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,542,631. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.18. The company has a market cap of $169.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.58, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. Verizon Communications’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.61%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on VZ shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).