Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. Buys 3,134 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 5.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 61,991 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,134 shares during the period. Verizon Communications comprises about 1.7% of Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,812,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Crescent Sterling Ltd. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 0.8% during the first quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd. now owns 30,906 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC now owns 18,390 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $735,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 10,968 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,915 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Verizon Communications by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 10,483 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their target price 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $44.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $186.02 billion, a PE ratio of 10.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.59 and a 12-month high of $47.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.30.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced 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. The business 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of Verizon Communications stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total transaction of $212,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,550,859.84. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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).