Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Choreo LLC

Choreo LLC lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 36.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 182,574 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 104,493 shares during the period. Choreo LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in Verizon Communications by 58.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 644,761 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 857,524 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,511,000 after purchasing an additional 55,411 shares during the period. Alpha Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $224,000. Evanson Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 5,693 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 677 shares during the period. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 373,419 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,770,000 after buying an additional 24,557 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $40.14 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.44 and a 200-day moving average of $41.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.99 billion, a PE ratio of 9.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued 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 return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.75%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Verizon Communications

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).