Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Holdings Cut by Lido Advisors LLC

Lido Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 275,129 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 13,473 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $11,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.9% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 12,244 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $550,000 after buying an additional 1,680 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.1% during the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 7,133 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.3% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,327 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $733,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the period. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 758,019 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,850,000 after acquiring an additional 9,846 shares during the period. Finally, Chelsea Counsel Co. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the third quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 31,420 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,411,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $42.39 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.95. 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 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36. The company has a market cap of $181.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. Equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.39%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine 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 stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Insider Activity

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,085 shares of company stock worth $1,422,495 in the last ninety days. Corporate 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).