Summit Securities Group LLC Decreases Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Summit Securities Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 74.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,600 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 19,700 shares during the quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $264,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 6,146,784 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $245,810,000 after buying an additional 270,800 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $564,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,619,000. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC now owns 178,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,139,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $4,987,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VZ. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. 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. UBS Group upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $44.96 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The firm has a market cap of $189.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.08. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. On average, equities 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 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).