Inspire Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Key Points

• Inspire Advisors LLC has acquired a new position in Verizon Communications by purchasing 20,083 shares valued at approximately $911,000 in the first quarter.
• Verizon has received multiple upgrades from analysts, with target prices increasing; the average price target stands at $47.35 and the stock has a "Moderate Buy" rating.
• Verizon recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6775 per share, representing an annual yield of 6.29%, with the dividend payment scheduled for August 1st.

Inspire Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 20,083 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $911,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Atlantic Family Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.6% in the first quarter. Atlantic Family Wealth LLC now owns 9,354 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.2% in the first quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 34,023 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,541,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 128.4% in the first quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC now owns 1,779 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.3% in the first quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 4,252 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $193,000 after buying an additional 533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 144,542 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $6,556,000 after buying an additional 1,934 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. 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 report on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Arete Research raised shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.10 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $42.86 and a 200-day moving average of $42.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.05, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 63.17%.

Verizon Communications 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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