Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Eldridge Investment Advisors Inc.

Eldridge Investment Advisors Inc. cut its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,155 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 387 shares during the period. Eldridge Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 2,743.6% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,827,609 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $68,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,763,339 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 34.2% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 1,073,490 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $40,470,000 after purchasing an additional 273,548 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 57,639 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,173,000 after acquiring an additional 11,562 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 140.7% during the 4th quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 26,671 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 15,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coombe Bender & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $252,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on VZ. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.04 on Friday, hitting $38.89. 13,160,129 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,017,807. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.74. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.84%. Verizon Communications’s dividend 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).