AlphaCore Capital LLC Buys 6,501 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 16.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,982 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 6,501 shares during the period. AlphaCore Capital LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $357,398,000 after purchasing an additional 8,695,736 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $792,937,000 after purchasing an additional 6,846,514 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $633,159.61. This trade represents a 40.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. This trade represents a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,376,300. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of VZ opened at $43.38 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $182.91 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $43.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

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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