NTV Asset Management LLC Has $1.77 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

NTV Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,836 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,319 shares during the period. NTV Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.5% in the third quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 69,620 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,256,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 16.9% in the third quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 18,280 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $592,000 after purchasing an additional 2,649 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $154,000. Buffington Mohr McNeal raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.1% in the third quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal now owns 7,154 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Godsey & Gibb Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 25.6% in the third quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 3,504 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $38.89. The stock had a trading volume of 13,195,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,003,748. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.25%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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).