Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Umpqua Bank

Umpqua Bank lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 59,293 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 5,263 shares during the period. Umpqua Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 100.3% during the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,310 shares during the period. Intellus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $290,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 3,104,574 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $124,156,000 after acquiring an additional 50,559 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 398,977 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,955,000 after acquiring an additional 126,012 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,122,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. DZ Bank upgraded 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7 %

VZ opened at $44.06 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. 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 one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.01.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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).