Court Place Advisors LLC Sells 2,131 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Court Place Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,131 shares during the period. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $783,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BCK Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% in the first quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 174.0% in the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,675,000 after acquiring an additional 58,283 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.5% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $60,828,000 after acquiring an additional 113,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $567,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ remained flat at $39.77 during trading on Wednesday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 21,006,388 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,729,598. The firm has a market cap of $167.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.41, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.55 and its 200 day moving average is $38.16. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $30.14 and a 12-month high of $43.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.08. The firm had revenue of $35.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.60 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 96.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Citigroup upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded 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 research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

Verizon Communications 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).