Field & Main Bank Lowers Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Field & Main Bank lessened its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,033 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 906 shares during the quarter. Field & Main Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $906,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.8% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 18,648 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 3,079 shares during the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 10,862 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $352,000 after buying an additional 1,912 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at $218,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.0% in the third quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,053 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.2% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 504,515 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,933,000 after acquiring an additional 6,058 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ traded up $0.42 during trading on Monday, hitting $40.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,838,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,158,041. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42. The firm has a market cap of $168.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.67.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.63%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

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).