Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC Acquires Shares of 4,985 Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 4,985 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 6,795 shares during the period. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its stake 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 last quarter. Axis Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $1,200,000. Finally, Rempart Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Verizon Communications by 52.8% in the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,079,000 after purchasing an additional 107,200 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 transaction of $329,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at $834,071.04. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 in the last 90 days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $41.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $175.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.61. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $43.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.23.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) 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 analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 13.14%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

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).