Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Has $79.04 Million Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 35.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,976,474 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,064,157 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $79,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 244.1% in the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 1,115 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp cut Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.7 %

VZ opened at $39.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.68.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.94%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 116.81%.

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).