Kentucky Retirement Systems Decreases Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 7.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 293,258 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 23,936 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems' holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $13,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,466,446,000 after buying an additional 535,322 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 16,458,264 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $678,739,000 after buying an additional 104,447 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,127,360 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $541,372,000 after buying an additional 936,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,016,271 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $536,791,000 after acquiring an additional 2,040,247 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $41.65. The company had a trading volume of 21,482,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,596,234. 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 $35.93 and a one year high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $175.33 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. Verizon Communications's revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a boost from Verizon Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. KeyCorp lowered Verizon Communications from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.37.

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).