Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Buys 938 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,048 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 938 shares during the period. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $1,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 114.6% during 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 period. Graney & King LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in shares of Verizon Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Verizon Communications

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.48, for a total value of $212,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 36,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,550,859.84. This trade represents a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 21,500 shares of company stock worth $938,400 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VZ. Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer upped 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $44.12 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. 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.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 for 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 forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Announces Dividend

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

About Verizon Communications

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).