Summit Securities Group LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Summit Securities Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 74.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,600 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 19,700 shares during the quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VZ. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $1,083,337,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 25,227,069 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $983,445,000 after acquiring an additional 6,153,408 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Tigress Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.71.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $45.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 27,775,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,542,689. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The stock has a market cap of $191.10 billion, a PE ratio of 10.97, 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 company's 50 day moving average is $42.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.07.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.97%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

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).