Annex Advisory Services LLC Has $4.29 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Annex Advisory Services LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 24.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,593 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 30,917 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $4,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Breakwater Capital Group lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 71.2% during the 1st quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 14,837 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 6,168 shares during the last quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 35,124 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,593,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 33.9% during the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 12,722 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 3,221 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 28.6% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC now owns 118,542 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $5,377,000 after purchasing an additional 26,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Management Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Management Partners LLC now owns 11,195 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $508,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were 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 now owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed 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. Evercore ISI raised 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 research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.02 on Thursday, hitting $43.26. The company had a trading volume of 12,081,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,030,822. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.45, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.51 and a 200-day moving average of $42.26.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

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).