Great Lakes Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 959,094 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 62,490 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $38,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. DZ Bank raised 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $43.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.51, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. 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 announced its quarterly 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 previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.23%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).