Western Financial Corp CA Acquires 269 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Western Financial Corp CA boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,013 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $817,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $381,000. Meyer Handelman Co. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% during the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $50,393,000 after acquiring an additional 76,083 shares during the last quarter. Axis Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $1,200,000. Rempart Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 52.8% during the first quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,079,000 after acquiring an additional 107,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 2,075,431 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $82,996,000 after acquiring an additional 20,610 shares during the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on VZ shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $42.15 on Thursday. 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 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $43.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.71 billion, a PE ratio of 10.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.43%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,550,859.84. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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).