Sterling Financial Planning Inc. Acquires Shares of 6,362 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Sterling Financial Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,362 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $289,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Davidson Trust Co. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 95.5% in the 1st quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 26,785 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 13,082 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 31,141 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,413,000 after buying an additional 2,656 shares during the period. North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $690,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 509,141 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $23,095,000 after buying an additional 26,634 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 7,441 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on VZ. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Monday. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.25.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.75 on Monday, reaching $42.80. The stock had a trading volume of 21,991,049 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,139,250. The company has a market cap of $180.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm's fifty day moving average is $43.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.31. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

About Verizon Communications

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).