Aigen Investment Management LP Sells 4,567 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Aigen Investment Management LP reduced its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,926 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 4,567 shares during the quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $232,389,000 after purchasing an additional 39,403 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.4% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 7,628 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth $208,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 13,098 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $588,000 after buying an additional 2,730 shares during the period. Finally, Crescent Grove Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 124.1% in the 3rd quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 37,517 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,685,000 after buying an additional 20,778 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were 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 owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VZ shares. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $42.83 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $180.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.35, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.77.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.33%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

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).