Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Reduces Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 904,457 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 111,837 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications accounts for about 0.5% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $36,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at about $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted 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 valued at $217,087,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,258 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 77.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $274,052,000 after buying an additional 2,656,396 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after buying an additional 2,081,241 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total value of $319,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.3 %

VZ stock opened at $43.31 on Tuesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $45.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $182.31 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50 day moving average of $39.95 and a 200 day moving average of $41.65.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS 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 in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 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).