Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 840,997 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,959,528 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 840,997 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.61% of Verizon Communications worth $1,177,524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 81.0% during the first quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 71.8% during the 1st quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 114.6% in the 4th quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. Finally, Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.03 on Friday, hitting $43.62. 10,301,320 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,131,578. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $183.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.23 and a 200 day moving average of $42.28.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Nine investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.25.

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).