Park Avenue Securities LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 11.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 248,082 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after buying an additional 26,370 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $11,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 114.6% in the 4th quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of VZ traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $43.82. The stock had a trading volume of 10,130,617 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,069,001. The company has a market cap of $184.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $43.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.28. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year 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.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

Insider Transactions 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 value of $212,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,550,859.84. This trade represents a 12.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VZ. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.41.

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).