LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 83.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,359 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 42,000 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $334,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VZ. LGT Group Foundation lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 321,382 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $12,852,000 after purchasing an additional 11,151 shares during the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $88,078,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $12,264,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.3% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 853,109 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $34,116,000 after acquiring an additional 293,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,355 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $894,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Ten equities research 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $43.81 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.75. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $184.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.19%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

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).