Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Reduces Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 76.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 77,448 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 252,587 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 16,704 shares in the last quarter. Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $483,000. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $219,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 22,682 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $907,000 after purchasing an additional 3,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR now owns 6,255 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.63 billion, a PE ratio of 9.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 63.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

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).

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