Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Acquires 36,336 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 6.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 583,007 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 36,336 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $26,445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $357,398,000 after purchasing an additional 8,695,736 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $792,937,000 after purchasing an additional 6,846,514 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VZ. Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research 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 objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at $834,071.04. The trade was a 28.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of VZ stock opened at $41.70 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $43.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.93, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.50%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 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).

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