Welch & Forbes LLC Lowers Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 710,184 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 95,962 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $26,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 15.5% during the third quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,352 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,152,461 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $36,856,000 after buying an additional 153,485 shares during the last quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.5% during the third quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC now owns 79,265 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,569,000 after acquiring an additional 12,368 shares during the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.5% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,287 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.0% in the third quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 43,139 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,398,000 after acquiring an additional 1,641 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.2 %

VZ stock traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $39.34. The company had a trading volume of 13,346,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,931,412. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The company has a market capitalization of $165.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.95.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.76%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).