Eastern Bank Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 3rd, 2023

Verizon Communications logo Eastern Bank cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) by 14.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 55,387 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 9,329 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BCK Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $2,101,000. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.9% in the first quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 5,980 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 174.0% in the first quarter. Ergoteles LLC now owns 91,776 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,675,000 after acquiring an additional 58,283 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.5% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,194,111 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $60,828,000 after acquiring an additional 113,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the first quarter worth about $567,000. 60.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $38.89 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $163.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.69, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.36. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.55 and a 1 year high of $55.51.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 24.60%. The firm had revenue of $35.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 6th. This represents a $2.61 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.71%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.58%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Craig L. Silliman sold 3,342 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total transaction of $126,996.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 76,355 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,901,490. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 6,226 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.69, for a total value of $228,431.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 67,966 shares in the company, valued at $2,493,672.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Craig L. Silliman sold 3,342 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total value of $126,996.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 76,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,901,490. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 16,767 shares of company stock worth $618,191. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $68.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Friday, December 16th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Verizon Communications from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $41.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Verizon Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 15th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.11.

About Verizon Communications

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Verizon Communications, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of communications, information, and entertainment products and services. It operates through the Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business) segments. The Consumer segment provides consumer-focused wireless and wire line communications services and products.