Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Sold by Loomis Sayles & Co. L P

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,437 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 918 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $217,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 16,946 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $678,000 after buying an additional 804 shares in the last quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,927,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 259,951 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,395,000 after buying an additional 62,217 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 251,282 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $10,049,000 after buying an additional 41,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sava Infond d.o.o. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $320,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $44.96 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.25 billion, a PE ratio of 10.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.07.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.71.

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).