Bokf Na Has $11.86 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Bokf Na trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 313,714 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 34,921 shares during the quarter. Bokf Na’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $11,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,954,357 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $222,500,000 after buying an additional 129,171 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,966,661 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $357,590,000 after acquiring an additional 731,828 shares during the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 44.0% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 65,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,619,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 70,276 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,810,000 after purchasing an additional 15,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 77,796 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,111,000 after purchasing an additional 17,393 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of 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 issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,071.04. This represents a 28.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,500 shares of company stock valued at $979,400 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $43.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.94. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week 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.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.22%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

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).