Tweedy Browne Co LLC Has $961,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Tweedy Browne Co LLC lowered its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,034 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,970 shares during the quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,698 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,289,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 9,123 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 580 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,985,000. Paloma Partners Management Co boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 234.9% during the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 61,702 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,771,000 after buying an additional 43,278 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,503,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.71.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.0 %

VZ stock opened at $45.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $42.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.08. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

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).