Voya Investment Management LLC Trims Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Voya Investment Management LLC cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 52.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,911,002 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 3,230,655 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC owned about 0.07% of Verizon Communications worth $116,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VZ. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 200,583 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $8,021,000 after acquiring an additional 2,087 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 4,285,872 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $171,392,000 after acquiring an additional 14,168 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 64,801 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $2,591,000 after acquiring an additional 4,683 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 19,228 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,847 shares during the period. Finally, Alta Advisers Ltd boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 13,816 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $553,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ stock traded up $0.41 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $42.80. The company had a trading volume of 5,503,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,085,837. The firm has a market cap of $183.59 billion, a PE ratio of 10.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.41. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $43.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 64.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,459 shares in the company, valued at $633,159.61. This represents a 40.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total value of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 34,085 shares of company stock worth $1,422,495. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications 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).