Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Holdings Raised by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,138,223 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 47,433 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.19% of Verizon Communications worth $369,150,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bowman & Co S.C. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 19.2% in the 1st quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. now owns 33,866 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,536,000 after purchasing an additional 5,452 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71,972 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $3,265,000 after purchasing an additional 15,066 shares in the last quarter. Veery Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Veery Capital LLC now owns 5,588 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,541 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stolper Co raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Stolper Co now owns 49,518 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $2,246,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,550,859.84. This trade represents a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VZ has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company 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 research 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 target on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. 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 report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine investment 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 MarketBeat, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VZ traded up $0.13 on Monday, hitting $44.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,870,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,067,044. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The company has a market capitalization of $185.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The stock's 50-day moving average is $43.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

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).