Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 25,136 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 925 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,115,932,000 after acquiring an additional 78,995,341 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $1,829,675,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after buying an additional 11,987,691 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 175,039,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,509,733,000 after buying an additional 8,171,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 339,007,286 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $12,607,681,000 after buying an additional 5,910,739 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.20, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.57 and a 200-day moving average of $37.34. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.60 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.86.

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).