Ethos Financial Group LLC Has $339,000 Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Ethos Financial Group LLC lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 52.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,987 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 9,903 shares during the quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $339,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $920,455,000 after buying an additional 4,134,150 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $133,491,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 3,782.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,974,813 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $149,850,000 after acquiring an additional 3,872,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 104.0% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,302,051 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $171,839,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on VZ shares. Redburn Atlantic raised Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE VZ traded up $0.32 during trading on Thursday, reaching $39.80. 12,878,403 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,660,254. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The firm has a market cap of $167.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.68%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 99.25%.

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).