Simmons Bank Decreases Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Simmons Bank lowered its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 5.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 149,272 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 8,357 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $6,771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. HM Payson & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 23,813 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,080,000 after buying an additional 1,582 shares during the period. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter worth about $85,000. World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 238,900 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $10,837,000 after purchasing an additional 14,363 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 54.5% in the 1st quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 3,218,705 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $146,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,861 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 72,884 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $3,306,000 after purchasing an additional 4,330 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.25.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1%

VZ stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.91 billion, a PE ratio of 9.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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

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).