First Foundation Advisors Sells 334 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

First Foundation Advisors trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,463 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 334 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,549,343,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,337 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 96,823,092 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,862,441,000 after buying an additional 998,847 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $2,300,846,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,083,337,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on VZ shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $48.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.85.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1 %

VZ stock opened at $42.94 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $42.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.05. The company has a market capitalization of $180.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.31%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).