Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Acquired by Donaldson Capital Management LLC

Donaldson Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 45.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 30,700 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 9,583 shares during the period. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,303,000 after buying an additional 6,795 shares during the last quarter. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $381,000. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,394,921 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $55,783,000 after purchasing an additional 547,384 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first 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 during the period. Finally, Axis Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. This represents a 12.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $44.12 on Wednesday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.59 and a 12 month high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $186.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $43.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.30.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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).