Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Sells 12,198 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 17.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 58,962 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 12,198 shares during the period. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $1,083,337,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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. Amundi boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 25,227,069 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $983,445,000 after buying an additional 6,153,408 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $177,799,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 184.3% during 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 buying an additional 3,519,258 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,809.20. The trade was a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE:VZ opened at $44.22 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.20 and a 200 day moving average of $41.97. The firm has a market cap of $186.13 billion, a PE ratio of 10.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.13%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of 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 lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.11.

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).