Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 7,180 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Welch & Forbes LLC cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 725,890 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 7,180 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $32,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cable Hill Partners LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 10,544 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 1,862 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 509,284 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $23,101,000 after buying an additional 3,859 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 59.4% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,488,297 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $158,229,000 after buying an additional 1,299,659 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 163,425 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $7,413,000 after buying an additional 17,855 shares during the period. Finally, Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,737 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 730 shares during the period. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of Verizon Communications 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Arete Research upgraded shares of Verizon Communications to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.00.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.2%

VZ traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $40.86. 7,381,557 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,177,841. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.25 billion, a PE ratio of 9.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.40. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.63%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

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).