Charter Research & Investment Group Inc. Has $866,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Charter Research & Investment Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 24.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,660 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 7,100 shares during the period. Charter Research & Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $866,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 6,146,784 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $245,810,000 after acquiring an additional 270,800 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $564,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $1,619,000. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC now owns 178,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,139,000 after buying an additional 1,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,987,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.71.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $44.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).