Swiss National Bank Sells 602,200 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Swiss National Bank lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,891,798 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 602,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.28% of Verizon Communications worth $475,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 158.3% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 11,217 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $449,000 after buying an additional 6,874 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 677,897 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $27,109,000 after acquiring an additional 16,005 shares in the last quarter. Essential Planning LLC. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6,415.4% during the 4th quarter. Essential Planning LLC. now owns 295,147 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,463,000 after acquiring an additional 290,617 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 76,583 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,063,000 after purchasing an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $106,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. This trade represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.9 %

VZ opened at $42.63 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.30, 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 current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.11.

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).