Tempus Wealth Planning LLC Has $1.11 Million Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Tempus Wealth Planning LLC decreased its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 31.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,505 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 11,041 shares during the period. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.0% in the 1st quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 71.8% during the 1st quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 114.6% in the fourth quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price target 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $43.10. The stock had a trading volume of 16,557,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,882,436. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.70 billion, a PE ratio of 10.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.51. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $47.35.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The company had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 63.17%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

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).