Easterly Investment Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 385,336 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 13,225 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications accounts for approximately 1.5% of Easterly Investment Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Easterly Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $17,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. Crescent Sterling Ltd. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. now owns 30,906 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 81.0% in the 1st quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 71.8% in the 1st quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 18,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $735,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CRA Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 6,913 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $314,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.4%

Verizon Communications stock traded down $0.18 during trading on Friday, hitting $40.77. The company had a trading volume of 20,997,542 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,230,514. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $42.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.40. The stock has a market cap of $171.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.65%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm'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 owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.00.

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).