Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,136 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 735 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,728,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA increased 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 valued at $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 6,795 shares during the last quarter. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.4% during the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $50,393,000 after purchasing an additional 76,083 shares during the last quarter. Axis Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $1,200,000. Finally, Rempart Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 52.8% during the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,079,000 after purchasing an additional 107,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $42.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $43.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.56 billion, a PE ratio of 10.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.40%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $834,071.04. This trade represents a 28.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Oppenheimer upped 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. Scotiabank upped 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. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

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).