Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Holdings Reduced by Orrstown Financial Services Inc.

Orrstown Financial Services Inc. cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,676 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,223 shares during the period. Orrstown Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $439,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $357,398,000 after acquiring an additional 8,695,736 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the fourth 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. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 52.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $792,937,000 after purchasing an additional 6,846,514 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,071.04. The trade was a 28.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $43.82 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $184.76 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $43.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.28.

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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company 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 given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Company 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).