Sei Investments Co. Has $124.16 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,104,574 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 50,559 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned 0.07% of Verizon Communications worth $124,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 655.5% in the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted 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. 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 note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Ten investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.71.

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Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.2 %

Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $43.46. The stock had a trading volume of 21,480,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,369,336. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $41.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.24%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction 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. Insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 in the last quarter. 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).