Proficio Capital Partners LLC Buys 107,233 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 963.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,360 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 107,233 shares during the quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,369,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $50,393,000 after acquiring an additional 76,083 shares during the last quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 52.8% in the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $14,079,000 after buying an additional 107,200 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 2,075,431 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $82,996,000 after buying an additional 20,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.9% in the first quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,137,904 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $51,126,000 after buying an additional 63,474 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE VZ traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $43.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,377,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,219,703. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $42.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.46. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.06, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.47 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.35.

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).