Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 44.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 39,832 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,228 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,593,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $232,389,000 after purchasing an additional 39,403 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,790,000. Cornerstone Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 172,800 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,760,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 199,685 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $8,968,000 after buying an additional 23,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 65.8% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 2,663,502 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $119,618,000 after acquiring an additional 1,056,863 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of VZ opened at $43.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $184.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.99.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.20%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the 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 $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.11.

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).