North Capital Inc. Invests $690,000 in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 15,214 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $690,000. Verizon Communications accounts for 0.7% of North Capital Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 509,141 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $23,095,000 after buying an additional 26,634 shares during the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 7,441 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 8,629 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 1,280 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 362,772 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $16,455,000 after buying an additional 1,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 315,639 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $14,317,000 after buying an additional 41,989 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.25.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE VZ traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.62. The company had a trading volume of 10,301,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,131,578. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.31. The firm has a market cap of $183.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.37.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

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).