Stokes Family Office LLC Has $961,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Stokes Family Office LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 45.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,500 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 20,970 shares during the quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 23,193 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 615.1% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 948,322 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,752,000 after purchasing an additional 815,704 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2,743.6% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,827,609 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $68,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,763,339 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 34.2% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 1,073,490 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $40,470,000 after purchasing an additional 273,548 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of VZ traded down $0.04 on Friday, reaching $38.89. 13,195,563 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,003,748. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.74. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s 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).