St. James Investment Company LLC Reduces Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

St. James Investment Company LLC lowered its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 605,713 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 87,521 shares during the period. Verizon Communications comprises about 3.7% of St. James Investment Company LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. St. James Investment Company LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $22,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,678,273,000 after acquiring an additional 11,987,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $1,829,675,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ traded down $0.32 on Tuesday, reaching $39.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,153,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,587,906. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.10. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The business had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

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).