Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Sells 98,615 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 5.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,657,798 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 98,615 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $75,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 6,795 shares in the last quarter. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $381,000. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 64.6% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,394,921 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $55,783,000 after purchasing an additional 547,384 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $50,393,000 after buying an additional 76,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axis Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,200,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.5%

VZ traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $42.96. 13,542,192 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,080,646. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $43.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.29.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.31%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.41.

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).