State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Sells 83,439 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,474,930 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 83,439 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $58,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 12,244 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $550,000 after purchasing an additional 1,680 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 5.1% during the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 7,133 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.3% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,327 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the period. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the third quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 758,019 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $33,850,000 after buying an additional 9,846 shares during the period. Finally, Chelsea Counsel Co. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 31,420 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,411,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.88, for a total transaction of $319,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895 in the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.1 %

VZ stock traded down $0.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.71. 29,394,721 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,122,385. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $179.78 billion, a PE ratio of 10.32, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.99.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. Equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Argus raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Tigress Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.94.

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).