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

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,094,692 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 28,156 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $49,163,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth $354,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $860,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $545,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.6% during the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 74,823 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,140,000 after buying an additional 1,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bluefin Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 47.2% during the first quarter. Bluefin Capital Management LLC now owns 16,048 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $673,000 after buying an additional 5,148 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ traded up $0.32 on Wednesday, hitting $44.69. 564,628 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,461,896. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.46 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.89 and a 200-day moving average of $41.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.13 billion, a PE ratio of 19.13, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.43.

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. The firm had revenue of $33.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 7.30% and a return on equity of 20.05%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.678 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This is an increase from Verizon Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.07%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 116.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com raised Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.37.

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).