Kyle Malady Sells 9,000 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Stock

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Kyle Malady also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, April 30th, Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of Verizon Communications stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00.
• On Wednesday, April 23rd, Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.65 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $43.74 and its 200-day moving average is $41.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.21%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VZ. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Nine investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Verizon Communications

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Keynote Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 20.2% in the first quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 44,330 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,011,000 after acquiring an additional 7,445 shares during the last quarter. Blue Barn Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 21.8% in the first quarter. Blue Barn Wealth LLC now owns 12,939 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,312 shares during the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.6% in the first quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 21,468 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145 shares during the last quarter. Roof Eidam Maycock Peralta LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at about $356,000. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 38,782 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,702,000 after buying an additional 4,456 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% 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).