Front Row Advisors LLC Has $783,000 Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Front Row Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 19,571 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,062 shares during the quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Tradition Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,698 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.8% in the third quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 9,123 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $5,985,000. Paloma Partners Management Co lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 234.9% during the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 61,702 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,771,000 after buying an additional 43,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1,934.5% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,080,015 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $48,503,000 after buying an additional 1,026,930 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.71.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $45.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $191.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.97, 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 current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The business has a 50-day moving average of $42.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.08. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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).