Hoxton Planning & Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Key Points

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Hoxton Planning & Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 22,159 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $1,005,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 737.5% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $530,576,000 after acquiring an additional 10,300,369 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $357,398,000 after acquiring an additional 8,695,736 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 6,846,514 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,801,282,000 after acquiring an additional 4,951,733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.3% during 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 worth $1,555,351,000 after acquiring an additional 4,568,518 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Eleven 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.35.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $42.72. The company had a trading volume of 6,132,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,933,365. The company has a market capitalization of $180.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $47.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 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).