12,787 Shares in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Bought by Retirement Planning Group LLC NY

Retirement Planning Group LLC NY bought a new position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 12,787 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $511,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VZ. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Nine investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.25 on Monday, hitting $43.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,390,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,216,954. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.13. The firm has a market cap of $182.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36. 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 (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

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).