MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB Cuts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB trimmed its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 449,698 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 7,931 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $17,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 444,460 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $18,330,000 after buying an additional 39,870 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.6% in the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 48,264 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,990,000 after purchasing an additional 3,412 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 679,435 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $28,020,000 after purchasing an additional 56,534 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 16,246.1% during the 2nd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 93,990 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,876,000 after purchasing an additional 93,415 shares during the period. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 29,857 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,792 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 target price for the company. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $38.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $163.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company’s fifty day moving average is $41.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.69.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

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).