Portside Wealth Group LLC Has $5.51 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 56.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 121,533 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 43,810 shares during the period. Verizon Communications comprises approximately 0.9% of Portside Wealth Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Portside Wealth Group LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $14,549,343,000 after buying an additional 5,697,337 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 96,823,092 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $3,862,441,000 after purchasing an additional 998,847 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $2,300,846,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,801,282,000 after purchasing an additional 4,951,733 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on VZ. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. 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 note on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ opened at $43.82 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.28. 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 quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock 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.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid 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 is currently 64.52%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. This represents a 12.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications 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).

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