Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stake Decreased by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,704,001 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,619,715 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications makes up 1.5% of Federated Hermes Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $592,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 130.1% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 320.0% in the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 58.4% in the fourth quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,096 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ traded up $0.13 during trading on Thursday, hitting $39.91. The stock had a trading volume of 6,020,343 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,534,375. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.49, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.17. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.66%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.02% 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).