Staley Capital Advisers Inc. Sells 2,250 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Staley Capital Advisers Inc. trimmed its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 197,139 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,250 shares during the quarter. Staley Capital Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $7,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after buying an additional 2,081,241 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,305,727,000 after buying an additional 565,842 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,083,337,000. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Verizon Communications by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 25,227,069 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $983,445,000 after acquiring an additional 6,153,408 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $46.55 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.88. The firm has a market cap of $195.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.24, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.11.

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).