Parallel Advisors LLC Has $9.04 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Parallel Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 26.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 199,341 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 70,291 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NCM Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 18,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $735,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 10,968 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. JB Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 20,816 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,915 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 10,483 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE VZ traded up $0.59 on Friday, hitting $43.92. 26,553,530 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,175,397. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $185.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The company's 50-day moving average price is $43.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.21.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on VZ. 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 note on Monday, April 28th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Nine research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.41.

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).