German American Bancorp Inc. Has $322,000 Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

German American Bancorp Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,053 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 334 shares during the period. German American Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $322,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Raab & Moskowitz Asset Management LLC now owns 70,824 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,181,000 after buying an additional 11,315 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,352,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.9% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,440,247 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $64,681,000 after acquiring an additional 12,580 shares in the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the third quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 375,883 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $16,881,000 after purchasing an additional 9,263 shares during the period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 98,201 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.82.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.1 %

VZ stock opened at $42.55 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36. The stock has a market cap of $179.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $42.72 and its 200 day moving average is $42.08.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.37%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

About Verizon Communications

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).