Optimist Retirement Group LLC Purchases 1,387 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 56,937 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 1,387 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications accounts for 1.3% of Optimist Retirement Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Optimist Retirement Group LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,583,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coastwise Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 21.3% in the first quarter. Coastwise Capital Group LLC now owns 55,671 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,525,000 after purchasing an additional 9,774 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 755,330 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $34,261,000 after purchasing an additional 13,564 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 56.0% in the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 323,773 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $14,686,000 after purchasing an additional 116,284 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 10.1% in the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 7,488 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the first quarter valued at approximately $192,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 owned 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. Scotiabank upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.00.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $40.77 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $171.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.37. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $42.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.42. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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 business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.65%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is presently 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).