Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 11,972 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 6.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 198,365 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 11,972 shares during the quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at about $5,484,000. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 740.7% in the first quarter. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,240 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $2,823,000 after buying an additional 54,837 shares during the period. Grant Private Wealth Management Inc boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Grant Private Wealth Management Inc now owns 20,387 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,736 shares in the last quarter. Dover Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 24,788 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,124,000 after acquiring an additional 7,290 shares during the period. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 23.3% in the 1st quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 20,062 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $910,000 after acquiring an additional 3,793 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the 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 now directly owns 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE VZ traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.61. The stock had a trading volume of 18,582,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,117,357. The stock has a market cap of $175.46 billion, a PE ratio of 9.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.25.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.41.

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).