Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Sells 88,663 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt trimmed its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 92.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,439 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 88,663 shares during the quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $1,882,164,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 127.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,801,067 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $821,900,000 after buying an additional 12,220,777 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 92.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 22,599,173 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $851,989,000 after buying an additional 10,882,873 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $250,312,000. Finally, Third Point LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $173,325,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.78.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.31 during trading on Monday, hitting $40.44. 2,463,170 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,766,043. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.51. The firm has a market cap of $170.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $30.14 and a 52-week high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.15. The business had revenue of $32.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.05 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.21 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.58%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 99.25%.

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).