KLCM Advisors Inc. Sells 9,373 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

KLCM Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 385,045 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 9,373 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises 1.8% of KLCM Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. KLCM Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $15,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,081,241 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after acquiring an additional 565,842 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $815,636,000 after acquiring an additional 502,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 12,493,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $561,105,000 after purchasing an additional 46,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on VZ. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ opened at $41.00 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $39.94 and its 200 day moving average is $41.57. 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 company has a market cap of $172.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.90, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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).