Amalgamated Bank Trims Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Amalgamated Bank decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,023,887 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 42,993 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $38,601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2,743.6% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,827,609 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $68,901,000 after acquiring an additional 1,763,339 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 34.2% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in 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 buying an additional 11,562 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 15,590 shares during the period. Finally, Coombe Bender & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $252,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.7 %

Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $38.93. The stock had a trading volume of 17,193,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,095,676. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.74. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month 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 stock has a market capitalization of $163.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).