Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ – Free Report) by 128.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,779 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $81,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investment Management Corp VA ADV lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 14.3% during the first quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 4,252 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 533 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 144,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $6,556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,934 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the first quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 549,495 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $24,925,000 after acquiring an additional 24,427 shares during the period. Security Financial Services INC. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.6% during the first quarter. Security Financial Services INC. now owns 7,704 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $349,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the period. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 4.8% during the first quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 52,810 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,395,000 after acquiring an additional 2,409 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.35.
Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications
In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.
Verizon Communications Stock Performance
Shares of VZ opened at $43.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $181.70 billion, a PE ratio of 10.05, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.54.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.
Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.17%.
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).
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