J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Purchases 74,648 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 203.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 111,288 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 74,648 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company's stock, valued at $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,233,295. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.91. 23,349,126 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 25,801,322. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The stock has a market cap of $176.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $43.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.99.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Company 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).