Liberty Capital Management Inc. Has $824,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,610 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 1,350 shares during the period. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $4,289,054,000 after buying an additional 2,081,241 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after acquiring an additional 565,842 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $815,636,000 after acquiring an additional 502,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 12,493,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $561,105,000 after acquiring an additional 46,100 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Argus raised Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $39.88 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-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 business’s 50 day moving average is $40.18 and its 200-day moving average is $41.55. The stock has a market cap of $167.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.80%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 65.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $810,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,851,664.50. This represents a 30.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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).