Snowden Capital Advisors LLC Has $4.94 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 33.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 123,526 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 62,734 shares during the period. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $14,549,343,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,337 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 96,823,092 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $3,862,441,000 after purchasing an additional 998,847 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $2,300,846,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,801,282,000 after acquiring an additional 4,951,733 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,376,300. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Tigress Financial lifted 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. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Monday, hitting $44.30. The company had a trading volume of 14,773,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,169,367. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.04. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The company has a market cap of $186.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.12%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is 64.52%.

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).