Shufro Rose & Co. LLC Increases Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Shufro Rose & Co. LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,136 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Shufro Rose & Co. LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 737.5% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $530,576,000 after purchasing an additional 10,300,369 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $357,398,000 after purchasing an additional 8,695,736 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 52.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $792,937,000 after buying an additional 6,846,514 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,801,282,000 after buying an additional 4,951,733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,893,487 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,555,351,000 after buying an additional 4,568,518 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $42.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $47.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.66.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The business had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict 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 was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.17%.

About Verizon Communications

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).