Tufton Capital Management Lowers Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Tufton Capital Management decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 17.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,829 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 21,536 shares during the period. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 88,532.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 79,084,569 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,115,932,000 after purchasing an additional 78,995,341 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,829,675,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 67,976,459 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,678,273,000 after acquiring an additional 11,987,691 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.3% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 10,604,493 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $540,193,000 after acquiring an additional 4,756,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total value of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $39.91. 6,020,343 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,534,375. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $167.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.17. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.66%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

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).