Avantax Planning Partners Inc. Buys 7,949 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 202,605 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 7,949 shares during the quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 74,370 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,974,000 after buying an additional 7,502 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 64.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 11,127 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 4,360 shares during the period. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $749,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $1,083,337,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on VZ shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective 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. Scotiabank increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.25.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $43.62. 10,301,320 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,121,261. The firm has a market cap of $183.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $43.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.28.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.21%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

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).