Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Griffith & Werner Inc.

Griffith & Werner Inc. lifted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 6.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,974 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 6,495 shares during the period. Verizon Communications comprises approximately 3.2% of Griffith & Werner Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Griffith & Werner Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $15,303,000 after buying an additional 6,795 shares during the last quarter. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $381,000. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $4,333,000. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Verizon Communications by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,394,921 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $55,783,000 after purchasing an additional 547,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meyer Handelman Co. increased its position 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 worth $50,393,000 after purchasing an additional 76,083 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. Oppenheimer boosted their price target 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. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI raised 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 research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded down $0.39 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $43.74. The company had a trading volume of 14,580,637 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,014,631. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $43.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.30. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.20%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. This represents a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently 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).