St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC Invests $2.93 Million in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 64,685 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $2,934,000. Verizon Communications comprises 2.2% of St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 6,795 shares during the period. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $381,000. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $4,333,000. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 64.6% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,394,921 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $55,783,000 after acquiring an additional 547,384 shares during the period. Finally, Axis Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter worth $1,200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer boosted 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. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

NYSE VZ traded up $0.59 on Friday, reaching $43.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 26,553,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,100,127. The firm has a market cap of $185.18 billion, a PE ratio of 10.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.22. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. Sell-side 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).