Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Trims Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 895,093 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 21,279 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $35,795,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,083,337,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 25,227,069 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $983,445,000 after purchasing an additional 6,153,408 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $177,799,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 184.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $217,087,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,258 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on VZ. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total transaction of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 value of $453,154.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,439.20. The trade was 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.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.7 %

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.98.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted 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 return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.17%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).