Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Reduces Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 54,053 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 5,346 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,162,000 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. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,892,000 after buying an additional 48,294 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,303,000 after buying an additional 6,795 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,376,000. Burney Co. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after buying an additional 43,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,503,000 after buying an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $46.13 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $40.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $46.20. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).