Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Sells 45,236 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC trimmed its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 34.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 87,134 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 45,236 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $357,398,000 after buying an additional 8,695,736 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $4,346,682,000 after buying an additional 7,421,148 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $792,937,000 after buying an additional 6,846,514 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.25.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.02 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $43.70. The company had a trading volume of 6,672,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,068,044. The stock's 50-day moving average is $43.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.10% 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).