Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Increases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Key Points

• Empirical Financial Services LLC significantly increased its stake in Verizon Communications by 115.4%, now holding 38,617 shares valued at approximately $1.75 million.
• Verizon reported a Q2 earnings per share of $1.22, exceeding expectations, with revenues of $34.50 billion, marking a 5.2% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6775 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 6.3%, with a dividend payout ratio of 63.17%.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 115.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,617 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after purchasing an additional 20,691 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 81.0% during the first quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 71.8% during the first quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 114.6% during 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 during the period. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Verizon Communications from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock traded up $0.08 on Friday, hitting $42.84. 20,824,312 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,617,524. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $42.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $47.35. The company has a market cap of $180.63 billion, a PE ratio of 9.99, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $34.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 63.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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).