Orleans Capital Management Corp LA Decreases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Orleans Capital Management Corp LA reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 24,834 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 650 shares during the period. Orleans Capital Management Corp LA’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rench Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 3.1% during the third quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 102,868 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,620,000 after buying an additional 3,065 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,856,315 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $83,367,000 after acquiring an additional 19,899 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 74.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,012 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,709 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in Verizon Communications by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 261,702 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $11,753,000 after purchasing an additional 41,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $13,891,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on VZ shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.82.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 over the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $45.60 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a market capitalization of $191.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $42.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.13.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.94%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

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).