Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 6.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 198,365 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 11,972 shares during the period. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $8,675,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the 4th 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. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $311,000. First Merchants Corp raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 24,775 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 2,037 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 720,662 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $28,819,000 after purchasing an additional 88,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Verizon Communications by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 45,192 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 3,473 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on VZ shares. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, 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 note on Friday, April 11th. Nine investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $42.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.28.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.31%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were 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 approximately $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

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).

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