Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by Salomon & Ludwin LLC

Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 48.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,016 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,964 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the fourth 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. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 74,370 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,974,000 after acquiring an additional 7,502 shares in the last quarter. Maia Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 70.9% during the fourth quarter. Maia Wealth LLC now owns 11,810 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 4,898 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 43,568 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,725,000 after purchasing an additional 4,576 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $106,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Tigress Financial raised their price target 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, Scotiabank lifted 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.30 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.15 and its 200-day moving average is $42.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61. 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 $182.56 billion, a PE ratio of 10.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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 given 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 6.26%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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).