Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC Purchases Shares of 120,895 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 120,895 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $5,484,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 81.0% in the first quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 114.6% during the fourth quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. 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 report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.5%

VZ opened at $42.96 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $181.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company's 50-day moving average price is $43.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.26.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors 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 dividend yield of 6.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $834,071.04. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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).

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