Federated Hermes Inc. Has $605.54 Million Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,142,201 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 319 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises 1.3% of Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.36% of Verizon Communications worth $605,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 10,968 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $439,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 31,728 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. JB Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 20,816 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 34,786 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,915 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.82.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 5.5 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.11 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.10. The stock has a market cap of $181.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41, a P/E/G 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 last year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% 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).