Yousif Capital Management LLC Has $25.67 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Yousif Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 680,827 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 34,725 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $25,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 173.7% during the 3rd quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $21,137,000 after purchasing an additional 413,869 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $5,131,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 3,020 shares in the last quarter. GFS Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $212,000. Finally, Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $306,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.69. 25,970,800 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,270,385. The company has a market capitalization of $166.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.44. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 96.38%.

Insider Activity

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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).