Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stock Position Reduced by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,586,254 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 1,915,988 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.30% of Verizon Communications worth $503,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 15.9% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 12,244 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $550,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 7,133 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.3% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,327 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $733,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the period. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 758,019 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $33,850,000 after acquiring an additional 9,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chelsea Counsel Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the third quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 31,420 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,411,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.90 on Friday, hitting $41.91. The stock had a trading volume of 23,350,565 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,158,826. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $176.43 billion, a PE ratio of 10.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. 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. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,550,859.84. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,233,295 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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).