Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC Has $1.73 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 30.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 38,213 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 8,883 shares during the quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,733,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.8% during the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $14,079,000 after purchasing an additional 107,200 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 2,075,431 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $82,996,000 after purchasing an additional 20,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the first quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,137,904 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $51,126,000 after purchasing an additional 63,474 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target 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. Arete Research raised shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. 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 an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.00.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ traded down $0.17 on Friday, reaching $40.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,410,949 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,181,842. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $171.96 billion, a PE ratio of 9.71, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.37. The firm's 50 day moving average is $42.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.40.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

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).