Associated Banc Corp Trims Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Key Points

• Associated Banc Corp reduced its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.8% during the 1st quarter, now holding 128,642 shares valued at approximately $5.83 million.
• Verizon's CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares at an average price of $44.10, reducing his ownership by 47.35% to 10,008 shares.
• Verizon reported a 5.2% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, posting $34.50 billion in revenue and $1.22 EPS, exceeding analysts' expectations.

Associated Banc Corp lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 7.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 128,642 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 10,916 shares during the quarter. Associated Banc Corp's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $50,393,000 after buying an additional 76,083 shares during the period. Rempart Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.8% in the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $14,079,000 after buying an additional 107,200 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 2,075,431 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $82,996,000 after buying an additional 20,610 shares during the period. Finally, Welch Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the first quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,137,904 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $51,126,000 after buying an additional 63,474 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.35. 17,800,801 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,145,494. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.54 billion, a PE ratio of 9.87, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.36. The company's 50 day moving average price is $42.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.75.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The firm's revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.4%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is presently 63.17%.

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).