Motco Has $4.86 Million Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Motco grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 121,496 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Motco’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in Verizon Communications by 58.0% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $78,975,000 after buying an additional 644,761 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $232,389,000 after acquiring an additional 39,403 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,463 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,465 shares during the period. Solidarity Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.2% in the third quarter. Solidarity Wealth LLC now owns 167,599 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,527,000 after purchasing an additional 5,257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 69,205 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,108,000 after purchasing an additional 1,477 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $181.88 billion, a PE ratio of 10.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.69. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.27%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 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).