MetLife Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,094,692 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 28,156 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $49,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $250,312,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third 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 period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 4,520.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,815,534 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $216,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711,309 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth approximately $177,799,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 112.6% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,574,910 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $273,507,000 after purchasing an additional 3,481,936 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:VZ traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $44.69. The company had a trading volume of 564,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,461,896. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.46 and a 1 year high of $45.36. The company has a market cap of $188.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average of $42.89 and a 200 day moving average of $41.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.678 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is a positive change from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 116.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp downgraded Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.37.

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).