Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $34.26 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 755,330 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 13,564 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $34,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 56.0% in the 1st quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 323,773 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $14,686,000 after buying an additional 116,284 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 7,488 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth approximately $192,000. WNY Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 188,972 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $8,572,000 after buying an additional 2,386 shares during the period. Finally, Twin Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 130,355 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $5,913,000 after buying an additional 1,354 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on VZ. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.00.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $40.77 on Friday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $42.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.42. The firm has a market cap of $171.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.71, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Verizon Communications

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).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.