Amalgamated Bank Lowers Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Amalgamated Bank lessened its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 833,582 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 13,881 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $33,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL increased its position in Verizon Communications by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 960,940 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $38,428,000 after buying an additional 23,405 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,451 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 725 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $283,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC now owns 5,224 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,691 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,851,664.50. The trade was a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.31 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.65. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $45.36. The company has a market capitalization of $182.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

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

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.26%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

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).