CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Sells 6,303 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA decreased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,775 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 6,303 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,936,009 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,106,887 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 35,561,841 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,466,446,000 after buying an additional 535,322 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 29,074,297 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,305,727,000 after buying an additional 565,842 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $46.50 to $47.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $37.99. 7,343,230 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,889,336. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.92 billion, a PE ratio of 16.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $41.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.80. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $45.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.13%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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).