Lido Advisors LLC Has $11 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Lido Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 275,129 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 13,473 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $11,002,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 12,244 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $550,000 after buying an additional 1,680 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 7,133 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,327 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 758,019 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,850,000 after buying an additional 9,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chelsea Counsel Co. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 31,420 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,411,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.1 %

VZ stock opened at $42.39 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $181.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.24, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business has a fifty day moving average of $43.65 and a 200-day moving average of $41.95.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.39%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Nine equities research 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,422,495 in the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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).