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

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 15.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,224,853 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 229,168 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $46,177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CWM LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,134,258 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $42,762,000 after acquiring an additional 11,401 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 22,411 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $844,000 after buying an additional 699 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 20,373 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $768,000 after buying an additional 2,377 shares during the period. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 122,798 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,629,000 after buying an additional 19,656 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.80, for a total transaction of $979,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,200.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.50.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE VZ opened at $40.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.33. The company has a market capitalization of $170.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.14 and a 12 month high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.67% and a return on equity of 20.71%. The company’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.57%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 96.38%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).