Old North State Wealth Management LLC Acquires 2,599 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Old North State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 6.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 44,218 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,599 shares during the quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crescent Sterling Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.8% in the first quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. now owns 30,906 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 81.0% in the first quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 71.8% in the 1st quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 584 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 18,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $735,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CRA Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 6,913 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $314,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 in the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note 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. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Verizon Communications stock opened at $42.11 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $177.55 billion, a PE ratio of 10.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $43.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 19.66%. As a group, analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

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).