New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Cuts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 200,671 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 5,200 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after buying an additional 4,711,309 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $217,087,000 after buying an additional 3,519,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 77.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $274,052,000 after buying an additional 2,656,396 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was 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 directly owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $41.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.59 billion, a PE ratio of 9.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.55. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.61%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).