First Interstate Bank Sells 3,732 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

First Interstate Bank lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 39.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,812 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,732 shares during the quarter. First Interstate Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $835,000. Financial Strategies Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Financial Strategies Group Inc. now owns 120,235 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,963,000 after acquiring an additional 14,754 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,170,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $81,830,000 after acquiring an additional 14,954 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 142,640 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,378,000 after acquiring an additional 27,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,745 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $895,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 35,201 shares in the company, valued at $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,016,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,262,630. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.14 and a 1-year high of $43.42. The stock has a market cap of $167.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.41, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The company had revenue of $35.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Barclays increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Wolfe Research raised Verizon Communications from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

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).