Brown Advisory Inc. Has $13.59 Million Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Brown Advisory Inc. cut its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 299,593 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 8,173 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $13,590,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. raised its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $50,393,000 after purchasing an additional 76,083 shares in the last quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.8% in the 1st quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $14,079,000 after purchasing an additional 107,200 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position in Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 2,075,431 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $82,996,000 after buying an additional 20,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,137,904 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $51,126,000 after acquiring an additional 63,474 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on VZ shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Tigress Financial increased 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. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Arete Research upgraded Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.00.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.0%

VZ stock traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $41.63. The company had a trading volume of 20,156,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,209,684. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The company has a market capitalization of $175.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.91, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.36.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Verizon Communications Company 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).