Cornerstone Capital Inc. Lowers Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Cornerstone Capital Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 305,074 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 998 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $11,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 19.8% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 18,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 3,079 shares during the period. Secure Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 46.2% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 22,140 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 7,001 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 304.7% during the third quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 54,895 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after buying an additional 41,331 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the third quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,016,710 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $32,952,000 after buying an additional 56,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Strategies Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 28.6% during the third quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 105,481 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,324,000 after buying an additional 23,448 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $39.68 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.46 and its 200 day moving average is $38.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $166.83 billion, a PE ratio of 14.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).