Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lowered its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 28.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 179,432 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 71,756 shares during the quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,139,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $2,300,846,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $357,398,000 after purchasing an additional 8,695,736 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $792,937,000 after purchasing an additional 6,846,514 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,549,343,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,801,282,000 after purchasing an additional 4,951,733 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Arete Research raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.00.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.24 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $173.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.82, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. Research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.57%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

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).