Carnegie Investment Counsel Has $30.57 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 1,992.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 674,849 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 642,604 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $30,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $50,393,000 after buying an additional 76,083 shares during the last quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.8% during the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $14,079,000 after acquiring an additional 107,200 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 2,075,431 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $82,996,000 after acquiring an additional 20,610 shares during the period. Finally, Welch Group LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the first quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,137,904 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $51,126,000 after acquiring an additional 63,474 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.02 on Friday, reaching $43.10. 16,557,678 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,882,436. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.70 billion, a PE ratio of 10.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company's 50 day moving average is $42.88 and its 200-day moving average is $42.48. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 13.28%. The company had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. Verizon Communications's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.35.

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).