Janus Capital Management reduced its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 7.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The hedge fund owned 4,827,773 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 375,650 shares during the period. Janus Capital Management owned 0.12% of Verizon Communications worth $210,056,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Gerstein Fisher boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the third quarter. Gerstein Fisher now owns 39,626 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after buying an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. TrimTabs Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,115,000. Stillwater Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Stillwater Investment Management now owns 44,182 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,042,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Northcoast Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northcoast Asset Management now owns 86,791 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $3,776,000 after buying an additional 3,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EisnerAmper Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. EisnerAmper Wealth Management now owns 19,810 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $916,000 after buying an additional 1,029 shares during the last quarter.

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) traded down 0.04% during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $49.01. 20,085,169 shares of the company were exchanged. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.62 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.06 and a 52-week high of $50.86.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $34.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.06 billion. Verizon Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post $3.98 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 8th will be issued a $0.565 dividend. This represents a $2.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.61%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 6th.

Several analysts have commented on VZ shares. Vetr upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $48.36 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. RBC Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, January 4th. BTIG Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 15th. Finally, Citigroup Inc. reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.97.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) is a holding company that, acting through its subsidiaries, provides communications, information and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses and governmental agencies. Its segments include Wireless and Wireline. The Wireless segment includes the Cellco Partnership doing business as Verizon Wireless. Wireless’ communications products and services include wireless voice and data services and equipment sales, which are provided to consumer, business and government customers across the United States. Wireline’s voice, data and video communications products and services include broadband video and data, corporate networking solutions, data center and cloud services, security and managed network services and local and long distance voice services. Verizon provides these products and services to consumers in the United States, as well as to carriers, businesses and government customers both in the United States and around the world.

12 Month Chart for NYSE:VZ

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