Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,139 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 568 shares during the period. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $725,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $216,266,000 after acquiring an additional 4,711,309 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $217,087,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,258 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 77.1% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $274,052,000 after purchasing an additional 2,656,396 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.
Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications
In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Verizon Communications Stock Performance
Shares of VZ stock opened at $42.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.59. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $178.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.45.
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 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 company earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.
Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 65.46%.
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).
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