Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Has $280,000 Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,990 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,145 shares during the quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 655.5% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction 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 represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $44.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $185.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.64, 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.01. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share 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 last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on VZ shares. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.11.

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).