Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Holdings Decreased by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC cut its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 710,184 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 95,962 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $26,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its position in Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,233.3% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,000 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $39.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,346,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,931,412. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.95.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.76%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).