Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 20.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 127,356 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 21,727 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 16,704 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,490 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 31,239 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,249,000 after buying an additional 2,661 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 734,537 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $29,374,000 after acquiring an additional 3,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 271,744 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $10,867,000 after acquiring an additional 14,105 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares in the company, valued at $1,550,859.84. This represents a 12.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. 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. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank increased their target price 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. Evercore ISI raised 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 report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.1%

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.79. The company had a trading volume of 5,173,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,972,587. The stock has a market cap of $184.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.57, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The business has a fifty day moving average of $43.47 and a 200 day moving average of $42.27.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors 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 6.19%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

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).