Reaves W H & Co. Inc. Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 15.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,042,767 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 183,822 shares during the period. Reaves W H & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $39,312,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 3,233.3% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,000 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $40.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,884,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,637,605. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The company has a market cap of $170.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $40.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.02.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.59%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 99.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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).

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