Shilanski & Associates Inc. Has $319,000 Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Shilanski & Associates Inc. cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,975 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 2,100 shares during the quarter. Shilanski & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $319,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in 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 worth $216,266,000 after buying an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 3,519,258 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 77.1% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $274,052,000 after acquiring an additional 2,656,396 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.17 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.92%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).