New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,178,422 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 495,662 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.15% of Verizon Communications worth $232,927,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,151,714,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,387 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 17.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $920,455,000 after buying an additional 4,134,150 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth approximately $133,491,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,782.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,974,813 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $149,850,000 after purchasing an additional 3,872,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 104.0% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,302,051 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $171,839,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded down $1.87 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $38.62. 51,214,385 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,205,531. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $162.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $30.14 and a one year high of $43.42.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Verizon Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.50.

About Verizon Communications

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).