Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Enterprise Financial Services Corp

Enterprise Financial Services Corp lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,565 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,190 shares during the period. Enterprise Financial Services Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 2,921.2% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 26,466 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,058,000 after buying an additional 25,590 shares during the period. Miramar Capital LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 448,817 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $17,948,000 after buying an additional 3,192 shares during the period. Argentarii LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $280,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $11,350,000. Finally, Kendall Capital Management increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 5,099 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $204,000 after buying an additional 549 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 4.3 %

NYSE VZ opened at $46.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.83. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $46.20. The company has a market capitalization of $194.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

Verizon Communications 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).