Janney Capital Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Janney Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 295,120 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 14,197 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $11,802,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 101,273,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,548,163,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,824,245 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $4,289,054,000 after buying an additional 2,081,241 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,357,031 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,581,848,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106,887 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,305,727,000 after acquiring an additional 565,842 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.8% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 18,161,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $815,636,000 after acquiring an additional 502,949 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $38.91 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $40.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.66. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $163.78 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. 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 given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

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).