Coastwise Capital Group LLC Has $2.53 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Coastwise Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 21.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,671 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 9,774 shares during the quarter. Verizon Communications comprises approximately 2.1% of Coastwise Capital Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Coastwise Capital Group LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $14,549,343,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,337 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 96,823,092 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $3,862,441,000 after purchasing an additional 998,847 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,300,846,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Verizon Communications by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,801,282,000 after buying an additional 4,951,733 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 38,893,487 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,555,351,000 after buying an additional 4,568,518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 0.4%

VZ traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $40.77. The stock had a trading volume of 20,997,542 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,259,077. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $42.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.37. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

Insider Activity 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 stock was 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 directly 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 this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Scotiabank boosted their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Oppenheimer increased their price target 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. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.00.

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).