ST Germain D J Co. Inc. Has $14.91 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 4.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 328,774 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 14,555 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $14,913,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 16,704 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 34,326 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,337,000 after buying an additional 3,345 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $266,000. Round Rock Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, McAdam LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 19,642 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $785,000 after acquiring an additional 853 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.50 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $43.33. 14,350,931 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,014,404. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.55 and a 200 day moving average of $42.25. The stock has a market cap of $182.69 billion, a PE ratio of 10.47, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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).