Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Decreases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. decreased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 59.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 856,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,272,958 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $34,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $232,389,000 after acquiring an additional 39,403 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 43.9% in the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 12,374 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 3,772 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth about $666,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 588.2% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 33,969 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,526,000 after acquiring an additional 29,033 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on VZ. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.51 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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).