Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Naples Global Advisors LLC

Naples Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 12.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,206 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares during the period. Naples Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 6,795 shares during the period. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $381,000. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,333,000. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 64.6% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,394,921 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $55,783,000 after buying an additional 547,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axis Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $43.82 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $43.44 and its 200-day moving average is $42.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

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

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).