Griffin Asset Management Inc. Has $3.71 Million Stock Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 81,705 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 3,826 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $3,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Crescent Sterling Ltd. increased 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 worth $1,402,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. increased 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 worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 18,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $735,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 0.3% in the first quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 72,272 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,278,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 10,968 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $439,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 10,008 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.96 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $181.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.59 and a 1-year high of $47.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. Research analysts anticipate that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 6.31%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

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).