Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Has $4.31 Million Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. reduced its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 95,065 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,608 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,312,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $357,398,000 after buying an additional 8,695,736 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,346,682,000 after buying an additional 7,421,148 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $792,937,000 after buying an additional 6,846,514 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.5%

VZ opened at $42.96 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $43.43 and its 200 day moving average is $42.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.31%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VZ. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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).