Boston Family Office LLC Lowers Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Boston Family Office LLC reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 69,057 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 12,432 shares during the period. Boston Family Office LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $8,892,000 after buying an additional 48,294 shares during the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its position in Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 6,795 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $7,463,000 after purchasing an additional 43,472 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $48,503,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,333,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.82.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 4.5 %

NYSE VZ traded down $2.06 on Friday, reaching $43.56. 19,538,888 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 24,887,115. The company has a market cap of $183.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.52, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. 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 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $47.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.13.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS 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 prior year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 6.22%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other 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 approximately $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

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).