Fiduciary Trust Co Sells 4,808 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Fiduciary Trust Co decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,548 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,808 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock 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 issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $43.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.99. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36. The firm has a market cap of $184.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.21%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,500 shares of company stock worth $1,376,300 in the last quarter. 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).