Impact Capital Partners LLC Cuts Position in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Impact Capital Partners LLC cut its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,378 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 256 shares during the period. Impact Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 114.6% in the fourth quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on VZ shares. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

VZ stock opened at $43.82 on Friday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.59 and a 1 year high of $47.36. The company has a market cap of $184.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.44 and a 200 day moving average of $42.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.6775 dividend. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. This represents a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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).