Perennial Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Perennial Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 107,891 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,519 shares during the quarter. Perennial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,894,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 6,795 shares during the last quarter. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $381,000. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $4,333,000. 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 worth $55,783,000 after purchasing an additional 547,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meyer Handelman Co. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $50,393,000 after purchasing an additional 76,083 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $43.82 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.28. The company has a market cap of $184.76 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

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).