State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury cut its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,474,930 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 83,439 shares during the quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $58,982,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 741,766 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $29,663,000 after purchasing an additional 117,021 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 251,047 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $10,039,000 after buying an additional 3,625 shares during the period. Thematics Asset Management raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Thematics Asset Management now owns 144,691 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,786,000 after buying an additional 10,768 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $231,000. Finally, Trajan Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC now owns 138,349 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,533,000 after buying an additional 6,377 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 14,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,895. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.92.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $44.01 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.46 and a 200 day moving average of $41.99. The stock has a market cap of $185.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (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 previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.16%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

About Verizon Communications

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).