Handelsbanken Fonder AB Raises Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,501,426 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 60,900 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $60,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in Verizon Communications by 58.0% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,756,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $78,975,000 after purchasing an additional 644,761 shares during the period. Alpha Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at about $224,000. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $232,389,000 after buying an additional 39,403 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,831 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westhampton Capital LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $203,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Ten equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. The trade was a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 2.0 %

VZ stock opened at $42.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $176.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $39.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Verizon Communications 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).