Parnassus Investments LLC Cuts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Parnassus Investments LLC lowered its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,612,979 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 1,548,584 shares during the period. Verizon Communications comprises about 1.5% of Parnassus Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Parnassus Investments LLC owned 0.39% of Verizon Communications worth $664,353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 5,174,541 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $232,389,000 after acquiring an additional 39,403 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 126.0% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 21,454 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $963,000 after buying an additional 11,962 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $536,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,313,760 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $103,911,000 after buying an additional 299,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cable Hill Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 26.5% in the third quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 11,495 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 2,411 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ traded down $0.05 on Friday, hitting $43.67. 17,425,339 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,179,350. The company has a market capitalization of $183.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36. The business's 50 day moving average price is $41.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.21%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VZ. UBS Group lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 $262,809.20. This trade represents a 54.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was 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 owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 49,085 shares of company stock worth $2,020,895. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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).