Hartford Investment Management Co. Sells 5,028 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Hartford Investment Management Co. decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 259,956 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 5,028 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $10,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third 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 buying an additional 5,936,009 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,289,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,081,241 shares in the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 565,842 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $815,636,000 after purchasing an additional 502,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 12,493,998 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $561,105,000 after purchasing an additional 46,100 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on VZ shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,439.20. This trade represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 39,085 shares of company stock worth $1,582,995 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $40.48 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.78, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $45.36. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.10 and a 200 day moving average of $41.56.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.46%.

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).