Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. Grows Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC. increased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 227,886 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 14,598 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises 5.2% of Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Patrick Mauro Investment Advisor INC.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 12,860 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $514,000 after acquiring an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 33,949 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 49,059 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,962,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 1,756,413 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $70,239,000 after buying an additional 261,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 122,240 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,667,000 after buying an additional 4,588 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Vandana Venkatesh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.79, for a total value of $437,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,459 shares of the company's stock, valued at $633,159.61. The trade was a 40.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 31,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,376,300. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.0%

VZ opened at $43.77 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $43.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.57, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.19%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VZ shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Nine equities 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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).

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