Insider Selling: Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) CEO Sells 7,500 Shares of Stock

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,071.04. The trade was a 28.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

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

• On Wednesday, April 23rd, Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00.
• On Monday, February 3rd, Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.31 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $185.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.68 and a 200-day moving average of $41.97. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.26%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 222,366 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $8,892,000 after buying an additional 48,294 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 6,795 shares during the period. Burney Co. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 186,621 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $7,463,000 after acquiring an additional 43,472 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,333,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 64.6% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,394,921 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $55,783,000 after purchasing an additional 547,384 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Company 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).