Pacifica Partners Inc. Cuts Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Pacifica Partners Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 64.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,110 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 3,899 shares during the quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $85,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the third 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. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,581,848,000 after buying an additional 1,106,887 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,305,727,000 after acquiring an additional 565,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $815,636,000 after acquiring an additional 502,949 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.33 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The firm has a market cap of $161.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.17 and a 200 day moving average of $41.76. 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 (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.54.

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).