Capital Investment Advisors LLC Has $29.60 Million Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 652,649 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,435 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $29,604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VZ. BCS Wealth Management lifted its position in Verizon Communications by 49.3% during the 1st quarter. BCS Wealth Management now owns 16,194 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $735,000 after acquiring an additional 5,348 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 11.9% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 248,082 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $11,253,000 after purchasing an additional 26,370 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 320,943 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $14,558,000 after purchasing an additional 4,263 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 13,542 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wynn Capital LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $226,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.88, for a total value of $329,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,071.04. The trade was a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:VZ opened at $43.82 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.44 and its 200-day moving average is $42.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $37.59 and a 52 week high of $47.36. The company has a market capitalization of $184.76 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 19.80%. Equities research analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on VZ shares. Wolfe Research downgraded Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. 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 research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine 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.com, Verizon Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications 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).