Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 5.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 966,690 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 53,960 shares during the period. Czech National Bank's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $43,849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. NCM Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 18,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $735,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 10,968 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. JB Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 20,816 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $832,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,915 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $117,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 10,483 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. This trade represents a 12.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.
View Our Latest Analysis on Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.5%
Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $43.63. The company had a trading volume of 5,209,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,978,902. The firm has a market cap of $183.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.54, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $43.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.25. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.
About Verizon Communications
(
Free Report)
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).
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