Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Increases Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 6.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 213,275 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after acquiring an additional 12,169 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $9,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 363,824,525 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $14,549,343,000 after buying an additional 5,697,337 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.3% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 7,421,148 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 96,823,092 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $3,862,441,000 after acquiring an additional 998,847 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $2,300,846,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 45,043,310 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,801,282,000 after purchasing an additional 4,951,733 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE VZ opened at $41.70 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.93, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.38. The firm's 50-day moving average is $43.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications's payout ratio is 64.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VZ. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of 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. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Verizon Communications from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $834,071.04. This trade represents a 28.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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).

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