Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 95,167 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 5,315 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,588,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 627.8% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 655 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 130.1% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 863 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 320.0% during the third quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,050 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $39.35. 9,774,796 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,092,658. The firm has a market cap of $165.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.71.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The company had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.76%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

About Verizon Communications

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).