Capital World Investors Has $876.87 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Capital World Investors cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,927,138 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 851,664 shares during the period. Capital World Investors owned approximately 0.52% of Verizon Communications worth $876,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $1,083,337,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 25,227,069 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $983,445,000 after purchasing an additional 6,153,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 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 valued at $14,549,343,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,337 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. 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. Finally, Argus upgraded 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, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.94.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.49 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.71. The company had a trading volume of 29,365,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,854,273. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $179.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.35%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following 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 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. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications 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).