Allen Capital Group LLC Trims Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Allen Capital Group LLC reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 75,493 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,498 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Verizon Communications by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,170,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $81,830,000 after acquiring an additional 14,954 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.4% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 142,640 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,378,000 after buying an additional 27,950 shares in the last quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,745 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $895,000 after buying an additional 1,259 shares in the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 57,530 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,169,000 after buying an additional 4,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC now owns 71,220 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,685,000 after buying an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE VZ traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $39.78. 14,012,307 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,711,529. The business’s 50 day moving average is $40.58 and its 200-day moving average is $38.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued 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 yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).