Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 64,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,161 shares during the quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 473,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $18,947,000 after acquiring an additional 57,800 shares during the period. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 473.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC now owns 236,232 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $9,447,000 after acquiring an additional 195,067 shares during the last quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 52,770 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,110,000 after purchasing an additional 9,420 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 30,607 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,224,000 after buying an additional 1,072 shares during the period. Finally, Impact Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $265,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $43.69 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $183.91 billion, a PE ratio of 10.55, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS 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 last year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.20%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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).