Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Stockman Wealth Management Inc.

Stockman Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 143,828 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 908 shares during the quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $5,422,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Tevis Investment Management boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 18.6% in the third quarter. Tevis Investment Management now owns 40,531 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,314,000 after acquiring an additional 6,352 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 5.1% in the third quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 9,466 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.7% in the third quarter. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 84,654 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $2,744,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 17.7% in the third quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 237,660 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $7,703,000 after acquiring an additional 35,770 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reitz Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter valued at $137,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VZ has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

VZ stock traded down $1.87 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $38.62. The company had a trading volume of 51,214,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,205,531. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.14 and a fifty-two week high of $43.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.37 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.41.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.71% and a net margin of 8.67%. The business’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.89%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 96.38%.

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).