Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Has $701,000 Holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,450 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 573 shares during the quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 382,678 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $15,303,000 after purchasing an additional 6,795 shares during the last quarter. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $381,000. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 64.6% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 7.4% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Finally, Axis Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $1,200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank boosted their target price 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. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, Verizon Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Insider Activity at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400 over the last quarter. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

NYSE:VZ opened at $42.96 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $43.43 and its 200-day moving average is $42.29. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week 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 company has a market cap of $181.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Equities 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 announced 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 is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.31%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio 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).