Verizon Communications Inc. $VZ Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,075,107 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 280,834 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,058,101,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 372,787,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $16,130,494,000 after purchasing an additional 4,615,075 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 208,213,255 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $9,009,388,000 after buying an additional 4,205,449 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 100,326,792 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,322,700,000 after buying an additional 1,101,504 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the second quarter worth about $2,504,150,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 21.5% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,159,040 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $915,552,000 after acquiring an additional 3,743,892 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 16th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.93.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $39.34 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.39 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $40.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $165.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.40, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.34.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 14.43%.The business had revenue of $33.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.0%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 58.97%.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ) is a major U.S.-based telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and information services. Its operations span consumer and business markets, with core offerings that include wireless voice and data services, fixed-line broadband and fiber-optic services, and enterprise networking solutions. Verizon is headquartered in New York City and operates a nationwide wireless network that supports consumer subscribers as well as business and government customers.

The company’s consumer products include mobile phone plans, unlimited data services, and Fios, its branded fiber-optic internet, television and voice service for homes and small businesses.