Focus Financial Network Inc. Buys 7,265 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 31.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,213 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 7,265 shares during the quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VZ. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,300,846,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $1,083,337,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 3,601.6% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 8,937,180 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $357,398,000 after buying an additional 8,695,736 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 108,694,230 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $4,346,682,000 after buying an additional 7,421,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 19,828,378 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $792,937,000 after buying an additional 6,846,514 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Evercore ISI raised 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. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $834,071.04. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ traded down $0.61 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $43.13. 22,343,482 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,075,644. Verizon Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.59 and a twelve month high of $47.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $181.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.42, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $43.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.31.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company 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 6.28%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.52%.

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).