Legal & General Group Plc Sells 9,454,780 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 25.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,307,293 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 9,454,780 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.65% of Verizon Communications worth $1,092,019,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,083,337,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Amundi raised 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 worth $983,445,000 after purchasing an additional 6,153,408 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares of the company's stock, valued at $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.82.

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Verizon Communications Trading Down 5.5 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.11 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $181.47 billion, a PE ratio of 10.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. 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's 50 day simple moving average is $42.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.09. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued 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 return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

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).

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