Evanson Asset Management LLC Acquires 968 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Evanson Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 18.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,171 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 968 shares during the period. Evanson Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 61.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 16,704 shares in the last quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 6,975 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 530 shares in the last quarter. Lakeside Advisors INC. boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Lakeside Advisors INC. now owns 5,485 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $219,000 after buying an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 55,837 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after buying an additional 2,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Capital Corp MA ADV bought a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $328,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

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 company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.21.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VZ shares. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last three months. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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).