Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) CEO Kyle Malady Sells 6,226 Shares

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) CEO Kyle Malady sold 6,226 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.69, for a total value of $228,431.94. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 67,966 shares in the company, valued at $2,493,672.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Kyle Malady also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 13th, Kyle Malady sold 7,199 shares of Verizon Communications stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total value of $262,763.50.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of VZ traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $36.79. 47,352,510 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,325,920. The company has a market cap of $154.51 billion, a PE ratio of 7.27, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $39.65 and its 200-day moving average is $38.99. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.55 and a 52 week high of $55.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $35.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.14 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 24.60% and a net margin of 15.53%. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 6th. This represents a $2.61 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.09%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.58%.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HBC Financial Services PLLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Kepos Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 273.5% during the 3rd quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 1,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 111.8% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 1,057 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 60.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Cowen dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Citigroup upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Moffett Nathanson raised Verizon Communications from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $41.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $68.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Friday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.63.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

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Verizon Communications, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of communications, information, and entertainment products and services. It operates through the Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business) segments. The Consumer segment provides consumer-focused wireless and wire line communications services and products.