Praxis Investment Management Inc. Acquires 1,540 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Praxis Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 90,840 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,540 shares during the quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,121,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 16,704 shares in the last quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 6,975 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Lakeside Advisors INC. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Lakeside Advisors INC. now owns 5,485 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $219,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 55,837 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,233,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Capital Corp MA ADV bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $328,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1%

VZ opened at $41.70 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $175.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.32 and a 200-day moving average of $42.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 6.50%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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).