Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Decreases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,592,721 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 362,882 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned about 0.06% of Verizon Communications worth $103,683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 2,921.2% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 26,466 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,058,000 after buying an additional 25,590 shares in the last quarter. Miramar Capital LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 448,817 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $17,948,000 after buying an additional 3,192 shares in the last quarter. Argentarii LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $280,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,350,000. Finally, Kendall Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 5,099 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Ten equities research 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 4.3 %

NYSE VZ opened at $46.13 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.84. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $46.20. The company has a market cap of $194.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. 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 data 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 return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.87%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).