Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stock Holdings Reduced by Fourpath Capital Management LLC

Fourpath Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 44,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,878 shares during the quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,549,343,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697,337 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,346,682,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 96,823,092 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,862,441,000 after purchasing an additional 998,847 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,300,846,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,801,282,000 after purchasing an additional 4,951,733 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of Verizon Communications 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,071.04. This trade represents a 28.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of VZ opened at $43.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.28. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The stock has a market cap of $184.09 billion, a PE ratio of 10.55, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.21%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 64.52%.

About Verizon Communications

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).