Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 46,038 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock, valued at approximately $2,088,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 88,603 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $4,019,000 after purchasing an additional 5,460 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 37.2% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 79,163 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $3,592,000 after buying an additional 21,469 shares during the last quarter. City Holding Co. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3.4% in the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 41,083 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,863,000 after buying an additional 1,339 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 19.3% during the first quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 72,876 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $3,306,000 after acquiring an additional 11,787 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CJM Wealth Advisers Ltd. acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the first quarter worth about $301,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $43.82 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.59 and a fifty-two week high of $47.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.28.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $33.31 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at $834,071.04. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on VZ. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.41.

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).

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