Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC Trims Stake in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC reduced its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,415 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 81.0% during the 1st quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. now owns 543 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Mattson Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Verizon Communications by 114.6% during the 4th quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 777 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 62.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Verizon Communications news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI raised Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wolfe Research cut Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ stock opened at $42.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $179.09 billion, a PE ratio of 10.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.25.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.50 billion during 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued 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 6.38%. Verizon Communications’s payout ratio is 64.52%.

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).