Eudaimonia Advisors LLC Has $290,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Eudaimonia Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 27.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,692 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,860 shares during the quarter. Eudaimonia Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $290,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 351,625,025 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,396,167,000 after buying an additional 930,367 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 44,621,839 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,446,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,015,139 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $920,455,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.6% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,261,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $300,175,000 after buying an additional 1,385,957 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $604,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.03% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.31 on Wednesday, reaching $39.39. 7,062,450 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,112,299. The company has a market cap of $165.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.54, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.52 and a 200-day moving average of $38.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.75%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Verizon Communications from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $33.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.21.

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).