Perkins Capital Management Inc. Sells 2,000 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Perkins Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 11,808 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Perkins Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $232,389,000 after buying an additional 39,403 shares during the last quarter. Camden National Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth approximately $258,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 16.5% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,459,961 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $65,567,000 after acquiring an additional 206,921 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,781,000. Finally, Towercrest Capital Management bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.53.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.7 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $44.06 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $41.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.01. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36. 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 announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.15%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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).