Wedmont Private Capital Trims Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Wedmont Private Capital lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) by 54.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,331 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 9,973 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $351,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 211.6% during the 2nd quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 11,515,955 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $584,800,000 after purchasing an additional 7,820,187 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 46,131,882 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,341,192,000 after purchasing an additional 6,042,854 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $181,862,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.3% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,604,493 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $540,193,000 after purchasing an additional 4,756,222 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 37.4% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,217,516 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $721,539,000 after purchasing an additional 3,870,751 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Tigress Financial cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $68.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Friday, December 16th. Moffett Nathanson raised Verizon Communications from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 19th. Cowen cut their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,199 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total transaction of $262,763.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 81,738 shares in the company, valued at $2,983,437. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $36.79 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.65 and a 200-day moving average of $38.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $154.51 billion, a PE ratio of 7.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.55 and a 1-year high of $55.51.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $35.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.14 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 24.60%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 6th. This represents a $2.61 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.09%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.58%.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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Verizon Communications, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of communications, information, and entertainment products and services. It operates through the Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business) segments. The Consumer segment provides consumer-focused wireless and wire line communications services and products.