Simon Quick Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 19.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,098 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,775 shares during the quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $15,303,000 after buying an additional 6,795 shares during the period. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth $381,000. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,394,921 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $55,783,000 after purchasing an additional 547,384 shares during the period. Meyer Handelman Co. increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the first quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 1,110,948 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $50,393,000 after purchasing an additional 76,083 shares during the period. Finally, Axis Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Stock Down 1.4%

VZ stock opened at $43.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $181.85 billion, a PE ratio of 10.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a one year low of $37.59 and a one year high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $43.41 and its 200 day moving average is $42.30.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly 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. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $33.31 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.28%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total transaction of $329,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 19,008 shares in the company, valued at $834,071.04. This represents a 28.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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).