Precedent Wealth Partners LLC Has $1.09 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Precedent Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 51.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,932 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 8,144 shares during the period. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,086,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,759,000 after buying an additional 16,704 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 45,192 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 3,473 shares during the period. ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $745,000. Everhart Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 18,853 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $754,000 after buying an additional 3,211 shares during the period. Finally, bLong Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $1,033,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of VZ stock traded down $0.54 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $42.48. The company had a trading volume of 20,439,795 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,120,484. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.43 and a 200 day moving average of $42.26. The firm has a market cap of $179.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 6.38%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is 64.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. 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. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine research 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

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

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).