Arjuna Capital Sells 2,167 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Arjuna Capital decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 86,789 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,167 shares during the period. Arjuna Capital’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% during 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 buying an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,289,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,081,241 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after acquiring an additional 565,842 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,083,337,000. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $815,636,000 after purchasing an additional 502,949 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. DZ Bank raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.11.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $46.13 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. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $46.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.61 and a 200 day moving average of $41.82. The company has a market cap of $194.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share 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 prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.87%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

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).