GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Increases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 10.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,444 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 796 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 81.0% during the first quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 71.8% in the 1st quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report 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 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.1%

VZ stock opened at $42.15 on Thursday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The company has a market capitalization of $177.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $43.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.43%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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).