National Bank of Canada FI Sells 3,630,739 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

National Bank of Canada FI trimmed its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 52.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,297,571 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 3,630,739 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.08% of Verizon Communications worth $128,181,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 98,027,542 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $3,151,714,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,387 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 28,400,326 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $920,455,000 after acquiring an additional 4,134,150 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $133,491,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,782.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,974,813 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $149,850,000 after purchasing an additional 3,872,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 104.0% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,302,051 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $171,839,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Verizon Communications from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.21.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,387,576.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.04 on Friday, hitting $38.89. The stock had a trading volume of 13,195,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,003,748. The stock has a market cap of $163.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.14 and a twelve month high of $43.42. The business's 50 day moving average is $40.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.79.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.41% and a net margin of 8.44%. The firm had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.84%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is presently 99.25%.

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).