Insider Selling: Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) CEO Sells 8,000 Shares of Stock

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Kyle Malady also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, January 29th, Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80.
• On Monday, January 27th, Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.16 billion, a PE ratio of 9.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.53.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 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 previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.78%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 163,195 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,526,000 after buying an additional 5,602 shares in the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 45,453 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,818,000 after acquiring an additional 14,394 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $1,083,337,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $749,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 1,220,059 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $48,790,000 after purchasing an additional 13,163 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

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).