Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. Has $300,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,512 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $300,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $78,975,000 after acquiring an additional 644,761 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 861,988 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,712,000 after purchasing an additional 23,696 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $232,389,000 after purchasing an additional 39,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Ten 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.90, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.61%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).