3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Sells 12,012 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 35.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,448 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 12,012 shares during the period. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Keystone Financial Group boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 24,472 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $979,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 66.1% in the 4th quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 38,906 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,556,000 after purchasing an additional 15,486 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in Verizon Communications by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 376,421 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $15,054,000 after buying an additional 12,240 shares during the last quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. now owns 176,220 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $7,047,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Finally, Bragg Financial Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc now owns 147,052 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $5,881,000 after buying an additional 2,135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $48.50 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. 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 report on Friday. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.92.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.6 %

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.26 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $44.56. 2,363,911 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,085,780. The company has a market capitalization of $187.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.74, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The business's 50 day moving average is $43.15 and its 200 day moving average is $42.02. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.08%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction 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. Insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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).