Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $503.33 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,586,254 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 1,915,988 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.30% of Verizon Communications worth $503,326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $8,892,000 after acquiring an additional 48,294 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $15,303,000 after buying an additional 6,795 shares during the period. Burney Co. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $7,463,000 after buying an additional 43,472 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $4,333,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,394,921 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $55,783,000 after purchasing an additional 547,384 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded up $0.37 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $42.76. The company had a trading volume of 5,038,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,414,137. The stock has a market cap of $183.42 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The business's 50 day moving average price is $43.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.95. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.41.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,422,495 over the last three months. Company 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).