Palumbo Wealth Management LLC Acquires Shares of 5,499 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Palumbo Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,499 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $249,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 16,704 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 255,966 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $10,236,000 after buying an additional 1,479 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $332,000. BCGM Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,077 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,883,000 after buying an additional 2,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boothe Investment Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Boothe Investment Group Inc. now owns 24,879 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $995,000 after buying an additional 1,814 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $42.35 on Tuesday. 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 market cap 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.40%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,071.04. The trade was a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Scotiabank increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, April 11th. Nine 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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).