Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 119,108 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,103 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 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 buying an additional 4,711,309 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 3rd quarter worth $177,799,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 184.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,428,540 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $217,087,000 after buying an additional 3,519,258 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,656,396 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $47.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen raised shares of Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 11,085 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.88, for a total transaction of $453,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,439.20. This represents a 43.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

VZ opened at $39.41 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $45.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.88 billion, a PE ratio of 9.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.57.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.01). Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).