Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc. Sells 734 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc. trimmed its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,187 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 734 shares during the period. Weaver C. Barksdale & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,549,343,000 after buying an additional 5,697,337 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,346,682,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421,148 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,289,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,081,241 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after purchasing an additional 565,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $1,083,337,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. This trade represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of VZ opened at $43.46 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.04.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid 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 6.24%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on VZ shares. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.71.

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).