Employees Retirement System of Texas Has $3.26 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Employees Retirement System of Texas lessened its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 58.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 81,427 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 112,766 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $14,549,343,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697,337 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 96,823,092 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $3,862,441,000 after purchasing an additional 998,847 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,300,846,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Verizon Communications by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,801,282,000 after acquiring an additional 4,951,733 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. DZ Bank raised Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Nine 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $834,071.04. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $43.30. The stock had a trading volume of 9,946,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,137,662. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $182.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $43.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.17.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.26%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

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).