HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Cuts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 146,520 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 5,692 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,930,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,450,058 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $417,897,000 after acquiring an additional 1,177,478 shares during the period. Boston Research & Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Boston Research & Management Inc. now owns 106,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,258,000 after purchasing an additional 4,154 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 41.0% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 69,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,780,000 after purchasing an additional 20,214 shares during the period. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC now owns 108,751 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,349,000 after purchasing an additional 3,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 5,061,647 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $202,415,000 after purchasing an additional 78,464 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.71.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.0 %

VZ opened at $44.96 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.07. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $189.25 billion, a PE ratio of 10.86, a P/E/G 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 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.03%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).