Great Lakes Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 959,094 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 62,490 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $38,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $1,083,337,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 32.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $177,799,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $217,087,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,258 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 6.4 %

Shares of VZ opened at $43.51 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $183.16 billion, a PE ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s fifty day moving average is $40.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.89. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.23%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.46%.

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).