Patron Partners LLC Raises Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Patron Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,661 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares during the quarter. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.2% in 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 buying an additional 2,081,241 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 565,842 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $815,636,000 after buying an additional 502,949 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 12,493,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $561,105,000 after acquiring an additional 46,100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $40.00 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $168.36 billion, a PE ratio of 9.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (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 business posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.78%. Verizon Communications’s 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).