Outfitter Financial LLC Sells 12,930 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Outfitter Financial LLC cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 49.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 12,930 shares during the quarter. Outfitter Financial LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,396,167,000 after purchasing an additional 930,367 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,446,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,015,139 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after buying an additional 4,134,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,261,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $300,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385,957 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.8 %

VZ traded up $0.31 on Friday, hitting $40.10. 4,459,949 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,495,070. The company has a market cap of $168.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.02. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on VZ. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

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).