Sage Investment Advisers LLC Has $250,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sage Investment Advisers LLC reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,622 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 739 shares during the quarter. Sage Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $250,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after buying an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after acquiring an additional 4,134,150 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $133,491,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 3,782.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,974,813 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $149,850,000 after acquiring an additional 3,872,434 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 104.0% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,302,051 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $171,839,000 after buying an additional 2,703,197 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on VZ shares. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ traded up $0.17 on Wednesday, hitting $39.48. 10,146,247 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,740,438. The company has a market capitalization of $166.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.30 and its 200 day moving average is $39.01. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.14 and a 52 week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).