Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Cuts Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 300,739 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 7,538 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $13,642,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $357,398,000 after buying an additional 8,695,736 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,346,682,000 after buying an additional 7,421,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $792,937,000 after buying an additional 6,846,514 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. 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 report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $43.82 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $43.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 64.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,550,859.84. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

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).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.