Foster & Motley Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Foster & Motley Inc. cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 96,679 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 11,463 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,866,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,303 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 838 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at $537,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the second quarter valued at $178,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,532,000. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $893,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $40.25 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The stock has a market cap of $169.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.61.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.73%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

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).