Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Has $10.85 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 271,249 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 6,874 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $10,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 worth $4,548,163,000 after buying an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $216,266,000 after acquiring an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the third quarter worth $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $217,087,000 after purchasing an additional 3,519,258 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 77.1% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,101,616 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $274,052,000 after purchasing an additional 2,656,396 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Argus upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. DZ Bank upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 39,085 shares of company stock valued at $1,582,995 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $39.88 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.18 and a 200 day moving average of $41.53. The company has a market capitalization of $167.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.45. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $45.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 65.46%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).