5,350 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Acquired by Ehrlich Financial Group

Ehrlich Financial Group bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 5,350 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 114.6% during the fourth quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.82 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The stock has a market cap of $184.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

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).