Short Interest in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Decreases By 14.0%

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) saw a large drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 41,250,000 shares, a drop of 14.0% from the March 31st total of 47,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 19,440,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after buying an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $1,882,164,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,446,194,000 after buying an additional 2,015,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $920,455,000 after buying an additional 4,134,150 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.68 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $166.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.70%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).