Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Reduces Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 904,457 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 111,837 shares during the period. Verizon Communications makes up about 0.5% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $36,169,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 69.6% during the fourth quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 780 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 655.5% during the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 8,000 shares of the company’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 owns 6,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $262,809.20. This represents a 54.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $43.31 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $39.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.65. 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 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.46, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.45.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.26%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 65.46%.

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).