LaFleur & Godfrey LLC Increases Stock Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,452 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 892 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,062,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC now owns 9,220 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 48,042 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,179,000 after buying an additional 983 shares during the period. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 16.7% in the 1st quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 109,575 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $4,970,000 after purchasing an additional 15,696 shares during the period. Lazari Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,851 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,032,000 after purchasing an additional 5,401 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 32.9% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 45,913 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,083,000 after purchasing an additional 11,360 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on VZ shares. Wolfe Research cut shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $42.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $43.28 and a 200 day moving average of $42.21. The firm has a market cap of $178.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.08, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36.

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

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

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 paid 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 yield of 6.40%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 now directly owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. This trade represents a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications 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).