Prospect Financial Services LLC Has $1.41 Million Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Prospect Financial Services LLC decreased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 32.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,114 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 14,802 shares during the quarter. Prospect Financial Services LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,411,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VZ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $14,549,343,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697,337 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $4,346,682,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the fourth 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $2,300,846,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,801,282,000 after buying an additional 4,951,733 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on VZ. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1%

VZ stock opened at $43.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a market cap of $182.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.45, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $43.47 and a 200-day moving average of $42.27.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

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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