Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Increases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 44.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,832 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,228 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,083,337,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 25,227,069 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $983,445,000 after purchasing an additional 6,153,408 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth $177,799,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $217,087,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on VZ. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.11.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.74 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $184.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.57, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

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 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 prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.20%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $810,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. This trade represents a 30.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % 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 valued at $2,020,895 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications 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).